The Story of Herobrine
by ShelbyJohnson
Summary: My Fan-Fiction on deviantART. This is my version about Herobrine, Notch, Steve, and Minecraftia as whole. It is currently on it's track to completion. Rated M for sexual themes, swearing, violence, and some gore. -I am on a small hiatus at the moment due to issues with the ending, but I will be sure to finish it eventually-
1. Chapter 1

He lay on the small bed, his lone relative at his side. Notch. The two brothers had always been different. Notch, the older one, was bold, always seeking new and crazier ways to get a thrill rush. On the other hand, the younger of the two was quiet, calculative, and enjoyed peaceful thinking. He created, glowing in pride whenever he made something worth the time and effort he took. Although they had their differences, they seemed to get along fine. Notch, among the slowly growing band of Minecraftians, had become their leader over time. Not Herobrine though. And when the quieter, artistic, Herobrine had stayed out too late; his adventurous older brother wasn't there to help him.

"Brother," murmured Herobrine, "Let me be the leader for today. Let me be important; needed."

"You know I can't do that, Brine." He said stiffly. His dying sibling looked up at him with dismay, a gentle flair of anger in his eyes.

"I don't want to go out angry," Countered Herobrine, his voice beginning to fail.

"Get some rest," Muttered the eldest, standing up to leave. His brother took his hand, a last pleading look burning in his eyes. He looked down and sighed. He ruffled his inferior's hair and walked out.

Anger burned at Herobrine's heart. He never had known true anger. For all his life he had stepped aside to let Notch make the decisions while he trailed behind, suppressing his envy into a thin glass bottle.

That bottle just exploded.

He looked outside to see his elder talking carefree outside to a few friends as his brother died inside.

Sadness overwhelmed him. He wanted to be far away from his brother. It was the only way to keep his anger from him. He had to protect Notch from his own self.

He walked through the corridors, blood trickling from his side. The occasional villager would look towards him with a shocked confusion on their faces.

He began to feel weak as he entered a dusty room. He saw the mineral closet, and he walked towards a small chest labeled 'Obsidian'.

He popped open the chest and pulled out the necessary ingredients. He created the basic frame of the accursed hellgate and made a quick decision. He wrote down everything; his bitter anger bubbling out of his heart and onto the paper. He began to cry, and his sadness turned into an overwhelming anger. He finished the note and addressed it to Notch. He set fire to the portal and stepped into it.

Herobrine opened his eyes when he was hit with a sudden blast of heat. His hazel eyes watered at the sight of the red and orange landscape of the hell world. The Nether. He heard the moaning of a Ghast, the fabled flying creature that dominated the lava world. He dove into cover, a netherrack ledge barely big enough to fit him. He cried out in pain as he wrenched a few stiches on a wound he'd received from a skeleton earlier that day.

He peered over the rock ledge and his breath caught on his throat. He saw an injured Ghast lying on hot soul sand. Its cries even more heart breaking than before. He swallowed hard and stood from his hiding spot. Walking towards it, the Ghast opened its fiery eyes. Alarm shot through it, but it couldn't muster a fireball. It was Herobrine's turn to be shocked when great silver tears began to stream from its eyes. He cautiously stepped forward, his bare feet burning on the rock as he approached the wounded creature. It wailed in agony, a pitiful sound trying to show some hint of warning. The young boy walked towards the middle of the ghast and saw a long cut through its stomach, next to it was a cracked egg.

Herobrine made a strange decision. He ripped off part of his shirt and began to seal up the cut as best as possible. He blocked the blood from pouring out and nestled the egg closer to her white skin. He patched the ghast up as best as he could and sat next to it. Patiently waiting for his own time to be up, he fell asleep.

Waking up to a cold burn, he sat up and sunk slightly. He realized with a shock that he was sitting in a nest of soul sand way above the portal. He spotted it easily and he smiled. He could go back if he wanted to. He glanced at the female ghast he had patched up; she was curled around her egg protectively.

The young man suddenly felt nauseous. He lay back down and in the process ripped open stitching's holding together a long cut in his leg. He cried out and felt blood gush from the wound. He felt numb. Very numb.

It was over.

Herobrine's cry echoed through the fiery depths, the sound eventually fading away. The mother ghast rose from her spot and silently glided over to the boy. Her eyes began to tear up again, the boy had saved her life and she had done nothing to repay the favor. A single silver droplet fell off her pale face and dropped into his open mouth.

The creature that brings death to most restored life to one person:

Herobrine.

He opened his eyes and gasped. The liquid burning his throat.

Hatred.

The second he was restored he remembered why he was here. His brother had pushed him too far.

Revenge.

Not on the people who lived there, it was not their fault.

Notch. It was Notch's fault.

He had died. And he had a goal now. With death he had received new life. But not any kind of life. In the few seconds he had been dead, his eyes had gone white. No permanent damage, but now glowed with unholy anger.

Herobrine rose. His new purpose for existence fresh in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Herobrine breathed in deeply, closing his eyes in thought. The subtle scent of molten rock wafted towards his nose. He felt the wounds on his side tear open further, but he no longer bled.

Home.

The young man emptied his pockets, and pulled out a few sticks and some stone. He set to work creating basic tools, preparing himself for a life in the god forsaken core. He created mostly pickaxes, with no wood to chop or dirt to farm, except for the practically useless soul sand. He began biting through the netherrack, the soft stone crumbling easily into small cubes. The young man set to work building a basic shelter, storing his items in a small hole at the corner of his house. He dug it out of the massive wall of rock that stood near the unlit portal. Digging carefully, he created a neatly hidden staircase that spiraled around the pillar, connecting the ground near the portal to his stone-dug hut at the top.

Herobrine stopped to admire his handiwork. He wiped sweat of his brow and let his pick-wielding hand drop. His muscles burned. And he hadn't the faintest idea of how much time had passed. The man sat down onto a netherrack ledge, dropping his pick and tipping his head back against the wall. He sighed quietly and began to drift off, his mind and body exhausted from the work.

Herobrine woke to the sound of his yell echoing around the quiet landscape. He breathed in heavily the thick, hot air with bursting gasps. The man realized he was clutching the wall. As he woke up, he relaxed, leaning on his knees as his mind processed through reality and nightmare.

Flashes of rotting flesh, dusty bones, and red eyes flickered through his dreams. Flesh gnawed, ribs slashed, and limbs shot; his mind subjecting the man to the pain and trauma he'd just been killed by.

Kneading his sore triceps, he stood up and began preparing to continue his setup of his new home. He learned that he could fashion picks completely out of netherrack, and began to make all of his tools as such. Plus, he found a strange, compressed form of netherack that could be formed into purplish bricks.

Upon discovering a strange edible plant, along with naturally growing mushrooms, he created a garden, making it more of a courtyard. Herobrine smiled slightly, remembering when he'd designed similar places in Minecraftia. Tables and chairs were set in strategic spots in the garden, adding more friendly additions to the fungus and lava garden he'd spent all his energy creating.

There he sat, a stone bowl of mushroom and netherwart soup in front of him. Sighing occasionally, he forced down the mushy mess in desperate attempts to regain moisture. He had broken countless netherstone picks mining a rare rock that contained a few drops of water. Eventually, his body had rationed his liquid use. Now, he no longer could sweat, cry, or swallow properly. Even when he'd work out, which was his only source of entertainment, he didn't sweat a drop. He could feel his skin harden, and the heat began to ebb. He found standing next to lava more enjoyable, the radiating heat comfortable against his dry, pale skin. Occasionally he would rub his arms, looking down at the whitish flesh that once sported a bronze tan. Closing his eyes, he would vaguely remember what the sun had looked like. Wasn't it small and yellow, like a block of glowstone? He could never imagine it well, for he'd fail at making it bright enough.

A sudden memory hit him like an arrow to the heart. The bright sun reminded him of a sparkling young girl with short, golden hair. She was a few years younger than he, and she tended to avoid him; his quiet patience frightened her.

Herobrine dropped to his knees, the stone bowl crashing to the floor. He moaned quietly. Sudden loneliness beat on his heart like a drum. He wanted a friend. He thought of the guys around his age. They used their brawn to attract girls. They avoided him. The strange one, the brother of Notch, was to be avoided; he was different.

No friends. No girlfriends. Just his brother, but he had lost that. The anger he had pushed away for an undetermined time flared suddenly. Notch had ignored him. Completely disregarding his dying brother, laying bleeding to death in his bed.

Herobrine opened his mouth to yell, but no sound came out. He was enveloped, blinded, by silent fury. He was once sad, long ago. But now there was only anger.


	3. Chapter 3

Lifting his face off the ground, Herobrine grumbled in discomfort. Somehow he had managed to fall asleep, or pass out, on the hard netherack ground. The man ran his hand across his forehead, gently rubbing off small particles that had transferred from the reddish rock to his face. Standing up, his vision went gray, and he lost his balance. Falling hard on the stone chair, Herobrine was forced into the realization that he was terribly dehydrated. Moving slower this time, he stood up, grabbing a netherrack pick, and head over to the icestone quarry he'd discovered.

Gripping his pick lightly, he swung hard on the bluish white rock, creating small cracks in the middle. Bashing the rock over and over, both stone and pick began to break. He was almost done, hoping his pick would last long enough.

Halfway through one his picks and almost done with the same damn stone, he jumped when the eerie silence of the nether was broken by an all-too-familiar sound. Dropping his pick and poking his head over the ledge of the quarry, he saw the faint outline of his nether portal being reopened. He scurried out of the glassy hole and dove behind a couple rocks, wrenching the last few stitches that could never heal the wounds he had. Crouching as he ran, the man raced over to the steps leading to his cliff top home and peered over the ledge for a better view.

Watching with mild shock, he saw a young woman being thrown through the portal by a pair of tan, hairy arms. She collapsed to the ground, auburn hair flying, and cried out in agony.

"I didn't kill him!" she yelled, the portal closed and her voice echoed meaninglessly around the hell world. Trying to stand up, the young woman dragged herself towards the ledge Herobrine had used once.

The nether dweller began to slowly crawl down his stairs, his bare feet (for his shoes had worn down long before) padding gently on the hard rock. He walked silently around the small cave and peered into it. Her right leg was coated in blood, tiny pieces of metal embedded in her leg. The woman's breathing was shallow, coming in ragged breaths, with no energy to sustain her from the blood loss. She slowly bled out onto the soulsand below her.

Herobrine saw her eyes; they were unfocused and staring at the ceiling, tears streaming from them.

"Jack..." she murmured.

"Is that you?" her head drifted over towards the young man before rolling into the back of her head. Unable to bare her suffering, he picked her up gently, and began to jog up the steps two at a time.

Feeling a hand on her leg, the woman acted fast, she snatched up the hand and opened her eyes. Her eyes grew wider. Her mouth opened to scream, but it stuck in her throat, his eyes burned through hers, white and lifeless. Eyes drifting around she began to panic, his clothes were ripped, and leg and sides with open wounds that had dried blood coating the cloth around it. She saw his right arm was bitten, the skin red and veins burned green with infection.

Herobrine shrunk down at her frightened stares and dropped his gaze. He took his hands off her leg, which she must've felt him stitching up. She looked down and saw many chunks of metal in a small pile on the floor and carefully done threading on her leg. A small needle that seemed to have been carved from the metal in her thigh was set next to the woman on the rock and sand couch she had been placed on. Thin threads that matched the color of his jeans held her skin together and trailed through the large eye of the needle, and she figured it out.

"Oh... Thank you." she whispered. She saw a corner of his shirt was covered in her blood and her side was relatively free of it.

"Thank you." she repeated. He nodded and finished the last few stitches. After he had finished, he stood up and walked out of the hut, heading out the house to a hidden chamber above.

"Enirboreh," a loud, purring voice announced. The man looked up at the milky white ghost and dipped his head in greeting. She wrapped her tentacles around the slightly cracked egg below her and continued.

"Namuh?" she asked quietly. The young man nodded and sighed through his nose. This was going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Walking back down from the ghast nest above his home, Herobrine decided to finish his collection of the icestone. Grabbing his battered pick, he head back down to the quarry, pushing back the fact that he would now have to collect double the resources.

Blinking rapidly from the dry air, the woman gently tried to put weight on her injured leg. She knew she shouldn't move it, with stitches and wounds so fresh, but she had to figure out why she vaguely recognized the face of the man who just saved her life. Limping across the floor, her knee-high heels clacked softly across the soft red stone that acted as a floor, echoing loudly in the brick hut hewn from the side of a cliff. The woman hobbled down the stairs, following the sound of stone meeting stone in a series of loud cracks.

Herobrine raised his pick up for one more swing against the water-based stone. Jumping violently, he swung around to see the producer of the gentle "Hello?" that had disrupted his work. Dropping his pick-wielding arm, he saw the stray he'd picked up shrinking away from his curious and slightly frustrated gaze.

"I'm sorry to bother you..." she said quietly as he continued to watch her with his strange glowing eyes.

"But I never got your name." she finished, squeaking slightly.

The man swallowed hard, trying desperately to remember how to talk.

"Enir- Herobrine." he replied, catching himself from saying it backwards, as it was the only way he'd heard it in the longest time. The young woman's eyes widened as all the pieces fell into place as his face and hair became slowly recognizable.

"You haven't changed much in three months," she murmured curiously, and it was his turn to be shocked. He leaned against the wall and his eyes flickered rapidly, silent memories flashing before him as he tried to calculate the length of time he'd been left in the barren world he lived in.

"My hair doesn't grow, my skin doesn't heal, and I no longer bleed from my various wounds." he said simply, deciding against telling her his theory why. Raising his pick, he let his sudden anger out on the rock in front of him, and it shattered explosively. After scooping up the ice fragments at his feet, he walked silently over to a lava pool near the portal, massaging his strained throat, and pushing back his constant anger that he'd lost control of a moment before. Hearing the gentle clicking of the woman's heels behind him, he whispered,

"And what is your name?"

"Shelby. My name is Shelby Michelle Johnson."

Reaching the lava pool, Herobrine put handfuls of the icestone fragments into a large bowl and set it gently on top of the edge of the lava pool. Shelby watched in silence as a small drop of precious water dripping off the stone and plopping gently on the bottom of the bowl.

"Now that is smart."


	5. Chapter 5

Shelby sipped her few precious drops of water quietly, watching as her friend, Herobrine, did the same. He had a faraway look in his eyes as he tipped the last of the liquid into his mouth. Shelby did the same, desperately absorbing the life giving water, but at the same time, not letting on how terribly dehydrated she was. Sitting back, she watched him as his eyes flickered through memories that she could not see. She let him think for a while before finally interrupting the silence.

"Now what are you going to do?" she asked quietly.

The man turned to her, taking a few moments to refocus on what was in front of him.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"What are you going to do with your life? What purpose do you have now that you live in this god-forsaken place?"

Upon her answer, he went silent.

"I- I don't know..." he said quietly.

Again, he was quiet, this time staring at the rock table in front of him. A pained expression grew on his face and it slowly, but surely, became angry, infuriated almost.

"I have a purpose, Ms. Johnson, and that is to kill Notch."

The girl's eyes went wide.

"Why would you want to kill him?" she whispered. Herobrine proceeded to tell her his story, how he'd been dying and his brother ditched him; he'd managed to send himself to the nether, met a ghast, saved it and then died.

Shelby stared at him, the missing chunks of his life coming together to reveal the painful story that had sculpted him into the angry man she now knew.

"Then how are you alive?" she whispered, slightly shocked.

"How do you know that I am?" he answered gravelly, unsure himself that he wasn't a zombie with his brain intact, for he sure as nether looked like it.

At this, Shelby stood up from the table and walked over to him. She put her hand on the left side of his chest and felt his heart racing, making Shelby blush slightly.

"T-that's how I know you're alive," she answered quietly, suddenly embarrassed at his reaction to her being so near. She sat down to watch him think. Herobrine involuntarily put his own, much larger, hand at the same spot.

"Huh..." he whispered." I guess you're right."

The corners of Shelby's mouth twitched faintly at the thought of terrorizing Herobrine about how his heart had thumped when she put her hand on it.

"Could you feel your own heartbeat when I put my hand over it?" she asked, trying to keep a straight face. Herobrine looked up in mild shock,

"Uhh..." he replied.

"Thought so." she said, winking slyly as she walked around the courtyard to strengthen her slowly healing leg.


	6. Chapter 6

Leaning back in what was now officially her chair, Shelby thought about how her own question applied to her life.

'Herobrine has a purpose, however violent it is, he still has a purpose.' the young woman leaned her head back on the wooden headboard, sighing quietly.

"Hey Shell, can you help me with this?" a familiar voice asked. Whipping around, she saw her good friend Jack holding too many ingredients in his thin arms.

"Sure." she answered, smiling broadly.

"I would do anything for you, Jack." she whispered to herself. Plucking some of the small glass jars from the precarious pile balancing in the smiling young man's grasp, she chatted absentmindedly with him.

"You're such a klutz, Jack, I'm surprised you haven't dropped anything yet, we go through so many bottle a week I'm surprised you still have a job." As if on cue, a small purplish bottle crashed to the floor and spewed its contents across the stone floor.

"I'll get it," laughed Shelby. Jack smiled gratefully at her as he carefully placed the rest of the delicate ingredients on the table.

"You're much better at this than me, Shell." he said, organizing the bottles into their cluttered chests.

"I don't think that's a fair assumption." she replied frowning.

"It's not particularly fair to assign people to invent things!"

"You're just a genius compared to me." he said stubbornly.

"I-I like that about you." Jack added quietly, looking up and taking a step towards her.

"Thanks, Jack." Shelby replied quietly, her mind numb as he closed the distance between them.

Watching through the small gap between the door and the wall, the jealous Notch watched as the sandy haired boy and Shelby kissed. A young, blonde haired girl with crooked glasses and a winter hat came running down the hallway with a large box of materials, almost crashing into him.

"Oh! I'm sorry, forgive me Notch! I need to give this box to Jack and Shelby for their experiments." she said quickly, panting as she talked. Notch smiled at the young teenager.

"It's alright, Maddie, I'll take it to them, I need to speak to them anyways."

To her relief, the strange leader of their village took the heavy box and she raced back to do more chores for various people. Finally alone, the leader slipped a tiny bit of gunpowder into the bag of sand that was used to make windows. Smiling coldly, he pushed open the door, startling the two inventors.

"Oh..! Notch! You have our lab materials... Why?" Shelby said, blushing furiously as she gratefully accepted the box.

"I needed to tell you that we need an extra-large glass window, ASAP, the one in the library cracked and a creeper nest was discovered not far from the east wing."

Jack and Shelby fumbled around clumsily lighting a furnace and getting the sand prepped as Notch walked silently out of the room, nonchalantly putting as much distance between himself and the soon-to-be last place the pair would be seen alive.

"Hey Shell, can you hand me the tweezers? I think there is some gravel or other impurities in the sand." Jack said, frowning.

"Sure." she replied, and while he leaning over to grab the tool Shelby was holding out, the world went white and silent, except for a gentle ringing.

Blinking her eyes rapidly, Shelby suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg and she cried out in pain. Looking over, her swimming vision saw Jack, his side burnt and smoking, with blood dripping down his face. His eyes focused on her face for a moment, settling on her for a moment before clouding over.

"No! Jack!" cried Shelby, and she dragged herself over to him, touching his cheek before passing out.

Shelby woke trembling, resting her head in the arm of her warm, and slightly shocked friend. he had sat next to her when he heard her moans.

"Shelby?" Herobrine said tentatively. She lifted her head up and wiped off the small tear that was trickling down her face.

"I-I'm okay." she said, her breath rattling as she inhaled slowly. She looked over to see the white eyed man she'd managed to befriend.

"I-I'm okay." she repeated, glancing back over at him.

"I am now"


	7. Chapter 7

"Add that to list of why Notch should die." Herobrine growled, pacing the room angrily, fingering a diamond that he'd found in the sole of his ruined shoes long before.

Shelby watched him walk out his anger, curious as to why he was taking the offense so personally. Stroking his diamond he whipped around to face her.

"Do you have any diamonds?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" she replied, pulling out the two she had and handed them to him. He took them and nodded gratefully before rushing out the door.

"HB! What are you doing with those?" she called. Picking up an iron hammer he'd made not too long ago, he began to scoop up lava with a bowl and pouring it onto a rock.

"What the nether are you doing?" Thoroughly irritated, she jogged to catch up with him until she caught up with him, and he was hammering the two diamonds into a cooling lava mold.

"Diamond and obsidian sword." he said softly, a barely retained insanity shaking his voice.

"You really are going to kill him, aren't you?"

Herobrine cackled quietly. Stroking his sword as he stood up, the light from the lava mixed with his glowing white eyes to create a flickering fire where his pupils should have been.

"Herobrine, the entire city will be there to stop you. You will be killed!" Shelby chased Herobrine as he strode off toward a different pool of lava. He stood on the very edge and closed his eyes, leaning his sword against the stone, and rocking slightly where he stood. The young woman saw him take a deep breath, and watched in horror as it threw him off balance and he fell into the hot magma.

"HEROBRINE!" Screamed Shelby and she threw herself on the edge of the netherrack, searching desperately for any sign that he was alive.

Jumping violently, an unscathed hand shot out of the molten rock and grabbed the ledge.

"Holy shit..." whispered Shelby as the seemingly invincible man pulled himself out of the thousand-some degree magma.

"Remind me never to stand so close to the edge." he panted, brushing the cooling rock off his mouth and facial hair. The rock solidified quickly on his significantly colder skin, and he brushed it off his arms and combed it out of his brown hair.

Shelby snapped out of her shock and acted without thinking. The next thing either of them knew, the young woman had her arms wrapped around him, and tears were streaming down her face as she buried her head in the small space between his neck and shoulder.

"Don't EVER do that to me again!"

Herobrine leaned against the wall and stroked her hair awkwardly as she continued to sob on his shoulder.

"I could have lost you!"

"But you didn't," the man said, and received a punch in the stomach that knocked the wind out of him. Turning away, she shook her hand and gripped her arms self-consciously.


	8. Chapter 8

Shelby watched as Herobrine walked through the doorway, his usual look of quiet concentration as he formulated some mysterious thought only he knew.

Stopping in the middle of the room, he looked down at his female companion who sat with arms crossed on the couch. Deciding against asking if he could sit, he instead head for his own room to let her calm down from her strange and sudden anger towards him.

As the man walked into his room, he heard a soft sigh come from Shelby. He sat down on the soulsand patch he used as a bed, lay his new sword next to him, and rubbed the grit off his fingers as he contemplated the plan he had been working on all day. Closing his eyes and tipping his head against the corner of the wall, he ran the fine details through his head. So concentrated was he that he didn't notice the soft clicking of leather heels growing louder as their owner waltzed as quietly as humanly possible toward the doorway of his room. Feeling the strange sensation of being watched, he opened his eyes, and saw his slightly temperamental friend watching him.

"Hey." he whispered tentatively, standing up and brushing the dry sand off his pants awkwardly.

She stared at him for a moment, before blurting out,

"I'm sorry." and then wrapping her arms around him before he could react.

"That was so uncalled for; I just thought you were going to die." Herobrine opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, instead returned the embrace, glad that he wasn't physically capable of blushing.

"Anyways, it's pretty apparent now how horrible you are at talking to girls," added Shelby, trying to keep a straight face as she looked up to his indignant look.

"What does talking to girls have to do with this?" replied the man, stuttering slightly as his female friend inched closer towards him. He backed up slowly, and they inched towards the wall, his eyes flickering nervously as Shelby stood on her tiptoes, leveling her head with his.

"Everything."

Herobrine's eyes went wide as dinner plates as Shelby leaned forward, connecting his lips with hers. Feeling him return the kiss, she rested a hand on his chin, gently pulling him forward. Eyes closed, she smiled faintly beneath his lips.

Finally.


	9. Chapter 9

Shelby sat on the couch in her and Herobrine's house. The young woman tried to hold back a giggle that kept trying to surface, and she distracted herself by playing with the frayed edges of her tan shirt. Again, she suppressed a small laugh as Herobrine's utterly shocked face flashed through her mind.

Herobrine, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor in the dark corner in his room, his shell-shocked brain trying to wrap around what had just happened. Every time that he would go through the events from moments ago, his heart would start pounding and his brain would just shut down. The second Shelby had left, he slid down the wall she had pressed him up against and began to sort through his thoughts. His heart raced a million miles an hour and he wondered why it still moved, despite the increasing lack of blood running through his veins.

Jumping slightly, the sound of Shelby laughing quietly to her, he decided to leave the dark security of his room.

"What are you laughing at?" Herobrine asked, and it was her turn to jump, making him smirk faintly.

"Just how uncomfortable I make you." the young woman replied, standing up to face him, smiling broadly and took his hands, sliding her fingers between his.

"D-Do you want to get something to eat?" the white-eyed man said nervously.

"Fine… If you want to ruin a perfectly good moment, be my guest," Shelby replied, winking as she turned to leave through the empty doorway.

Sighing, Herobrine followed his flirtatious compatriot out into the fiery world around them. She scooped up a few mushrooms, and the man attempted the same. His hand reached forward and began to wrap around the small red fungi.

So suddenly was he thrown into a flashback that he sat down hard on a ledge behind him.

Clasping his tan hand around the small mushroom, he stood and looked at his brother walking towards him with a curious expression.

"I thought you hated mushrooms." Notch said, sounding confused.

"I did, before we ran out of pork. Anyways, these aren't for me, they're for the blonde with the baby we picked up yesterday. She says that as a mother, she refuses to eat the child of any creature."

The elder of the two picked up another mushroom and sniffed it.

"Mm, smells like shit!" He handed the small fungi to Herobrine and laughed.

"That's what it grows in, you idiot." They pushed each other around for a minute or so until Notch glanced at the quickly setting sun.

"We'd better get back, we've got more people who can't protect themselves than we have to defend."

"I'll check out the shelter construction, meet you at nightfall."

Turning away from his older brother, he smiled as he jogged off to find the others. The makeshift leather sack bounced gently on his back and the sound of moaning zombies clawing from deep below reached his ears. Picking up his pace, he ran up to an older boy with dark brown hair who was carrying a few planks. Startled, the boy dropped the wood he had been holding when he heard the racing feet.

"Oh thank—it's you. I thought you were a zombie for a second."

"Well, damn, Rich, I didn't think I looked that bad!" Herobrine said laughing, looking down at his dirty blue shirt and pants. Notch came racing up from behind them with fresh blood, or as fresh as zombie blood can be, on the tip of his stone sword. Placing a large hand on his younger brother's shoulder, he murmured quietly in his ear,

"'Brine, it's nightfall."

White eyes coming back into focus, the euphoric man saw a smiling face surrounded by auburn hair hovering over him.

"Oh, hai." She whispered,

"Wake up from your daydreaming? Ooh! Was it about me?" she cooed.

"The last time I was in the position I got bit." Herobrine muttered awkwardly.

"And I thought you were innocent!"

"It was a zombie…" replied the man, confused by the look of sudden horror that flashed across Shelby's face.

"Um… oh! OH! You scared me for a moment. Anyways, what were you thinking about?"

"My brother and I."


	10. Chapter 10

Shelby almost winced from the sound of utter defeat in Herobrine's voice. Whatever flashback he'd just experienced hit him hard. He was angry, he had always been angry. That was one of the reasons she was attracted to him. But at this point the anger was replaced with pain, and she could almost feel it. Her usual playful mood was instantly extinguished and she felt an overwhelming sadness.

The man didn't have enough strength to feel indignant when she curled around him, almost pinning him to the rock his back was to. Resting her head on his shoulder, he gave up his stubborn macho act and wrapped his own strong arms around her.

They had both suffered so much by the work of the same person, Notch. It was what brought them together here.

Shelby didn't have control anymore. She didn't think anything besides the fact that she needed to be closer to him, his anger exposing his weakness, his loneliness. A light brush on the lips and they found themselves straining against anything that would keep them from getting at each other. Fingers fumbled and lips roamed, anger and despair melted into passion. But when a wave of tension passed between the two, they stopped. The young woman opened her eyes and soon after Herobrine did the same.

They couldn't do this. Not here, not now. There was too much anger, the pair was unstable and they knew this. Not now, not yet.

Feeling her heart racing as fast as it was, she was suddenly curious as to Herobrine's physical reaction. She smiled faintly at the memory of placing her hand on his heart and making him so uncomfortable. This time he still felt uncomfortable, but not because it was racing. Thin fingers rested on his shirtless chest, and they froze there. His heart wasn't beating anymore. Her brown looked into his white as the young woman searched the man's eyes for any sign of a change.

"It stopped just a few minutes ago." Herobrine murmured, he cupped her cheek in his hand at the look of rising panic on her face and kissed her forehead. He slid his shirt on and checked that his sword was still next to him where he left it.

"I'm fine, I promise."

The quiet bubbling of magma and occasional hums from ghasts or zombie pigmen was suddenly broken by an eerie howling noise. Nudging Shelby off his lap, the white-eyed man edged around the ledge they had been hidden behind. She took his hand, silently telling him to be careful as he edged around the corner toward the source of the muffled sound.

Peering around the netherack wall, what he saw caused anger to flare in him like a match to gasoline. There was a party of three standing around the portal he had created so long ago. He recognized two of them but not the third. Richard was there, holding a short sword and bow with a side arm of fear, the boy used to idolize the younger brother of Notch. Next to him was a man who made Herobrine wonder if he was looking in a mirror. Shorter hair, tanner, and better kept, yes, but he was almost identical to him. Then, there was the last one. With dark brown hair and a thicker beard, they looked quite close. His brother's brown shirt was recently washed and his grey pants patched up, showing off a life of ease.

"Notch." Spat the younger one to his self. He grabbed his sword from next to Shelby who gave him an irritated look. She had no clue what was going on. Anger welled in him as he glanced over at the trio standing near the portal murmuring to themselves. If he listened hard he could catch bits of their conversation.

"Blaze…potions…Sydney."

Herobrine had enough. He didn't care what they were doing here, or why that loner, Sydney, had to do with this. He stepped out from behind with his sword in his left hand. With his hair whipping around his face, his scraggly clothes and body shredded in areas, and the diamond/obsidian sword at his side, he looked legitimately deranged.

Richard squeaked quietly in shocked terror and caught the attention of the other two. The youngest member's face when from utter fear to horrified recognition as Notch looked over curiously. And then his face paled.

"Hello, brother," Said the younger one, as wicked smile spreading across his face, and a tingling sense of power washed through his body as he stood near his brother. He clenched and unclenched his fists in anticipation as the other turned to face him.

"You are supposed to be dead." Notch replied with his voice quavering as his white-eyed brother strode slowly toward him with a crazed grin.

As he walked toward his hated brother, he was suddenly struck with flashes of information. Looking up at Notch, he heard tiny whisperings in his head. Murmurings of hidden powers and the truth of who he was; who he was supposed to be.

Herobrine looked down at his right hand, the one not holding the blade, realizing its full potential. His waning grin grew back on his face and he snapped his fingers quietly. A flame formed around his hand and slowly, almost majestically, engulfed his forearm.

The older one looked at the other, his face showing no sign of anger. He knew that as soon as his brother got near him he'd gain the same knowledge. He began to reach for his bow and then faltered, a tiny voice in his head telling him to stop. He couldn't kill his _own brother!_

Herobrine saw the other's flinch, and a twinkle of forbidden hope grew up inside him. As he lost his concentration the flame on his arm shrunk and died away, looking as if it was retracting into his palm.

And then Shelby walked out.

"MURDERER!" yelled Richard, suddenly gaining furious confidence, and pulled out his own bow. He drew the tight string and pointed the arrow straight at the redhead.

"What the-?" Shelby stammered, confused by what was happening.

"Steve," Notch muttered, "Get him to put down his bow, he doesn't know the full story."

"Give Steve the bow, kid. Save the arrows for someone more important."

Steve put his hand on Richard's shoulder and began to reach for the bow.

"No!" the 19 year old let the arrow fly. It whizzed through the air and planted itself firmly into Shelby's ribcage. She crumpled on the floor with a soft cry and stay there.

Herobrine lurched forward, his obsidian blade sinking in like the boy was butter. Richard tried to scream but all that came out was a few popping noises and a mouthful of blood. Twisting the blade as forced the sword further with all his strength, he almost lifted Richard off the ground. Blood was pouring down the blade and across the raging man's hairy arms. A sudden loud _CRACK _echoed as the diamond tip shot through the boy's back. Pulling the long blade out of the younger man's stomach with a burst of crimson liquid and flesh, he let what used to be one of his companions drop to the floor like the dead meat he was.

Looking down at his dripping hands, he let his sword fall to the ground. Shaking as the adrenaline in his body wore out, he looked up at Steve and Notch's horrified faces.

"Run."


	11. Chapter 11

Herobrine didn't need to look to know that Notch and Steve were stumbling through the portal at top speed. He knew that they were now aware of how crazy he had become. The man stumbled over to Shelby, his broken redhead lover, where she lay gasping on the ground. He had known that Richards shot wouldn't have killed her. Yet.

She turned her head to him and smiled half-heartedly.

"Come to patch me up again?" He nodded, the adrenaline-filled murder-craze sinking back down into its cage. Ignoring the irritating tearing of skin as he dropped to his knees, he glanced over at the silenced portal. They had taken Richard's body. Good.

Looking down at his hands again, he saw the crimson liquid still drying on his palms. Sighing, he pushed back any sign of emotion and wiped his bloody hands on the back of his pants.

"This may hurt, Shelby." Herobrine muttered as his fingers slid gently into the mutilated skin around the arrow wound. His fingers closed around the small flint arrowhead and he began to slowly pull it out. Thankful it had come out in one piece, he threw the sharp stone aside.

Taking the young woman's hand, he lifted her from the ground and into his steady grip, supporting her weak side while still allowing her to walk freely.

"How do you feel about the overworld?" Shelby smiled faintly at the idea, images of the sky and sun floating tauntingly in her head.

"I take it that is a yes." Feeling the injured girl stumble, his grip tightened around her ribs and tried not to cause her any more pain. Gripping her closer in panic, he struggled to slow down, keeping her steady as possible.

"I've got you; you're going to be fine."

"I have you, Shelby, I'm not letting you go."

What only took about a minute felt like an hour as the two slowly made it to the portal.

"T-That leads to behind a locked iron door." The redhead muttered, looking up at her equally tattered compatriot with her anxious brown eyes.

"I'll take care of it, Shelb, trust me," he muttered in reply, hiding the increasing doubt and panic that climbed up his throat.

Reaching the portal, Herobrine looked down at his free hand and willed a flame to engulf his hand like a flickering orange glove. Running his lit hand on the inside if the rectangle and watched as the flame burnt purple and raced through the empty frame, swirling menacingly and whispering an eerie howl.

Stepping onto the edge of the portal he pulled up the shaking woman, who then collapsed unconscious into his arms.

After being squashed, shoved through a small gap of time and space, and then pulled back into place, Herobrine stumbled off the raised portal onto a dusty stone floor.

Shelby, startled awake by the dimension transition, followed on weak legs and sat on the nearest chest in the small warehouse.

"I told you it was locked" she muttered, motioning weakly with her head towards the door.

Taking the challenge, Herobrine ran his hand along the edges of the door, mumbling to himself and checking some of the chests, and slowly realized there was no way out. And then he noticed the hinges of the door were on the inside. The foolish builders hadn't considered something may have wanted to break out of the storage room.

Peering through the small windows on the iron door, he smiled to himself, it was midnight. No one would be awake except the single watch-person at the tower. Placing his hands on the two hinges that connected the door to the wall, he willed his hands to ignite, hotter and hotter. Although he originally planned merely to melt the hinges, he instead incinerated them. His rage and panic amplifying his newfound powers in desperate attempts to escape their hellish prison.

Shoving the door to the side, he scooped up Shelby into his arms and ignored her half-conscious protests as he sprinted through the moonlit halls of his past.


	12. Chapter 12

Hardened bare feet hit the ground at a rhythmic speed. Strong blood-accented arms clutched their precious bundle. Stringy brown hair streaked across ashen skin and hallowed white eyes.

Shelby was unconscious at this point, and that was panicking Herobrine. Clutching her to his chest and pushing the flimsy wood door with his shoulder, he stumbled only momentarily when the cool night air hit him like a blow to the face. Mind racing with a million different thoughts at once, he tightened his grip on his bleeding lover and raced across the shadowy plains grass. With one weak thrust, he launched himself over the fence that lined the now-finished village.

Ignoring the branches and leaves that cracked and poked at the underside of his feet, the man ran toward a small area in a large forest guided only by memory. As he began to tire, he stumbled more, alerting the notice of a shadowy figure in the trees far away. A small flicker of a campfire not far away caught his attention, and like a moth to a flame, he ran towards it with his silent stalker not far behind.

The glint of metal caught his attention and he ducked. A long shaft of polished wood edged in sharp iron streaked across the space his head had been moments before.

"Aren't most people smart enough to stay indoors at this time of night? Or have you no need of fear for the darkness?" cooed a seductive voice he'd recognize anywhere.

"Hello, Sydney Ender-bane." He replied, trying to keep as calm as he could in the current situation.

"Put down the girl right now, or you won't live to see my face." the young woman replied, a hard edge to her voice.

"Sydney, listen…" As he began to speak, his vision went black.

Herobrine woke up tied to a tree. It was a new experience for him and he wasn't sure if he particularly liked it. As he opened his eyes, he realized with a panic that he didn't know where Shelby was. Moving his mouth to speak, he realized with a shock that he'd been gagged with a dirty piece of cloth. Before he could complain, his eyes came into focus to see his attacker.

Sydney was squatted next to an unconscious Shelby, dripping the contents of a bright pink bottle onto her wound. He sat for a moment to watch, curious as to what she was doing. Corking the empty bottle, Sydney looked up at the man.

Sydney was a short figure, strong and agile with carefree shoulder length brown hair that seemed to be everywhere at once. Tight black and dark blue clothes showed more than necessary and an enderpearl and creeper-claw trophy necklace hung ominously from her neck.

"I don't know why you were carrying my best friend out in the middle of the forest at midnight, but I will not give you the honor of the benefit of the doubt. Despite being in contact with each other once or twice a few years back, I will treat you like anyone I find dangerous. Now, I'm going to cut off that gag, and you're going to tell me how you came into possession of Shelby, what you did to her, and why the Nether you would take her out here."

Spitting out the residual taste of cloth, Herobrine looked into the young woman's piercing blue-gray eyes.

"Sydney, I helped her survive in the Nether. We were there until not too long ago. Then Notch came along with Richard and Steve. And- and then Richard shot Shelby…" Words beginning in confidence broke off into choked gasps of air as he fought off the sudden fear and anger he had fought to control. Sliding his outstretched knees up to his chest, he leaned his head on his dust and blood covered jeans, hiding his face from the cold-eyed hunter.

"And you killed him." She finished stiffly.

"Yes." Lifting his head from his knees, eye twitching slightly from repressed emotion, he looked evenly into the eyes of Sydney.

"I killed him because he shot my Shelby. I killed him and his blood still coats my arms underneath the layer of her blood. I left the Nether because in there I was trapped. I came to find you, Sydney. Because I know that you wouldn't turn her down."

"Herobrine, I don't know what the Nether happened to you, but I can tell from the way you glare at me now, that one of those was Shelby. I'm going to let you go, and you may go to her, but if you harm her in any way, I will not give you the mercy of having your death quick and painless."

With that, she cut the rope fastening him to the tree. He dragged his feet as fast as he could over to the broken girl on the small blanket near the shade of a tree, not too far from the central fireplace. Sliding up next to her on the soft grass, he stroked her cheek and whispered her name, ignoring the burn of Sydney's curious eyes on the back of his head.

"Brine..?"

Shelby's cracking voice almost cried out from her half-conscious state, reaching her hand out and gently running her fingers on his torn shirt and struggling to open her eyes. The man replied silently by threading his own fingers between her small, pale ones and sliding to an uncomfortable half-sitting position next to her.

"I told you it'd be okay."


	13. Chapter 13

After sitting with an unconscious Shelby for about an hour, Herobrine got bored and a little bit stir crazy. Careful not to disturb her, the man carefully slid from his spot and walked off towards the forest. Upon entering, he began to get a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, trying to give a déjà vu feeling with a memory he didn't have…or remember.

Walking back to see if he could escape the feeling in familiar territory, he realized it was much too silent for Sydney to be around.

"Sydney?" he whispered. No reply.

"Damn." Deciding against leaving Shelby alone, he sat back next to her, eventually sliding down at level with her.

With her half sleeping, half unconscious, he had nothing more to do than watcher her even breathing and think. Think about her, him, and them as a whole. And then of course, there is Sydney. How, and when, should they make it known that they'd spent an undetermined amount of time alone together and somehow developed the nameless relationship they now had. It was so much easier in the Nether… no other people. Just survive together, take care of each other… and occasionally releasing some solitude-induced sensuality.

That was the problem. Solitude guarantied nothing. Two mildly attractive people who are completely alone will, with enough time, develop some sort of relationship, even if only lust driven. When Herobrine reached over to brush a stray hair from her face, he stopped, letting his hand fall in defeat. They were around people now. There was little chance that this friendly, gorgeous young woman would stick with a deranged half-zombie for any longer than necessary.

Sydney blundered over, eyes out of focus, and a thick black liquid dripping nauseatingly out of her mouth.

"Damn! That stuff hits the spot!" spewing little bits of it out of her mouth, she grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and dragged him off into the woods with the last remaining threads of his collar ripping. Leading the indignant man to the brutally slaughtered body of an Enderman, it was clear she had been drinking the beast's blood and gotten herself drunk out of her mind.

"Hey, hey hey hey hey! You've gotta try this stuff!" dipping her finger in the mutilated corpse, she picked up a sizable amount of blood on her finger and then stuck it in the horrified man's mouth, shoving him against a nearby tree. Startled and gagging, he tried to maneuver around the intoxicated brunette, but only got himself even more trapped between two close-grown trees. Coasting up and gently holding his chin with free hand, she quickly removed her finger from his mouth and replaced it with tongue and lip. As he tried to struggle away she started to slide her hand down his pants, drunkenly ignoring his muffled yells as some form of enjoyment.

Fed up with the drunk's assault, he rolled his eyes and put his hand up near her face and set it on fire. Screaming something incoherent, she jumped away from the flaming man and stared shocked at the combusting limb.

"How the Nether are you doing that?"

"It doesn't matter! Just- Just stay off of me!"

Shaking her head and running her hand through her hair, she obviously was trying to regain her sobriety. Hitting her head lightly, she pointed at him and smiled.

"Oh! Oh, I forgot, you've got the hots for Shelby! Well, uh… That's not going to last long is it? Cause, we uh… had a deal." Pointing to herself, she finished with, "I get you first," And then walked back over to the campsite. Confused and mildly offended, he walked off toward what sounded like the dripping of water. What he found was a sparkling 7x10 pond. And he was afraid of it.

Water. It was such a rare thing in the Nether that he'd forgotten it could be found so easily and in such abundance. To drink it was a treat, to bathe in it? It had seemed a waste then. Now, it was just waiting for him. Cold and wet. So naturally, he threw himself into it.

It was shocking at first. His body was used to the intense heat of the Nether, he'd even felt the hot sear of lava. After he recovered from the initial shock, it was great. He opened his eyes and saw the hard crusted blood from his shirt and body washing off and he helped it along, rubbing his arms and shirt, even bits of his pants. Hands ran through dirty hair, seemingly ancient wounds were rinsed, and before he knew it, he was cleaner than he had been in ages. Completely quenched, and now spotless from head to toe, Herobrine headed back to check on Shelby. He'd have to show her the place when she woke up.

"You're damp."

The small voice caused Herobrine to jump, jerking him awake from the light sleep he'd drifted in to. He looked down and saw Shelby pawing sleepily at his shirt.

"Yeah, I found this nice little pond and took a swim. When you're better, let me know and I'll take you," he explained, watching with sad, white eyes as she looked at her drastically healed side. Her skin was already almost patched up, with a small cut left and quite a scar.

"Healing potions, she always did love them." The redhead sat up and looked down at him lying next to her and smiled.

"You were talking about a pond?"


	14. Chapter 14

([A/N] The only reason I'm posting this here is because it's such a frequent question; No, Shelby isn't supposed to me, her name was overall just being lazy. My legal name isn't Shelby Johnson but I've been seriously considering changing it to as much or at least using it as a pseudonym.)

Hoisting up Shelby with a single, strong arm, he led her off towards the clear pond he'd found not long before. As they began walking, his injured redhead leaned her head on his shoulder and took his hand, melting his fears instantly. When they reached it, a smile grew on her face.

"Ladies first," he joked, nudging her towards the pond. But before he could react, she shoved him into it and laughed at the startled yelp he made, just before cannonballing in herself.

"You sly thing!" he replied, and grabbed Shelby by the waist from behind, trapping her in his arms. After thrashing and laughing for a bit, Shelby looked up at him.

"Now let me go so I can wash off. I feel grungy and I doubt it's very attractive." Herobrine did as she asked, but gently took her face in one of his hands.

"Hey, do you really think I care?" he whispered, and then let her get to washing her long hair and clothes. After a minute or so, she turned around and looked uncomfortably at the man sitting on the ledge next to her who was staring into open air.

"Can you turn around for a sec'?" she asked quietly. He turned to her, eyes coming into focus and then switched his dazed look to one of curiosity.

"Sure… why?" in response she began to blush madly.

"Because I'm taking my shirt off and I don't want you staring at me, fair enough?" Smirking, he turned around and stared off in another direction.

"I said no looking!" throwing his arms up; he turned around for the last time and waited for her command.

When she finally did let him turn around, she was in the middle of tying up her corset.

"Hey," the man said, making her look up and receive a splash of water to the face. "Payback."

Before they knew it, they were in a water war. Splashing at each other, it quickly grew intense, a fierce competition between the two. With every slap of water, every idiotic movement, they got closer together, until they were inches away. Shelby looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him and smiling as he held her closer by the hips. Amidst the mind-numbing embrace of their make-out session, the two didn't notice the pale blue eyes watching them from a distant tree. Nor did they notice the triumphant grin plastered on her face.

Sydney knew.

Mentally shaking himself, Herobrine pulled away from Shelby, both telling her it was time to go and releasing the lustful pull between the two of them.

"We should leave." He muttered, breathing deeply to calm himself down. 'His' redhead pouted jokingly as she climbed out of the small lake and head off to Sydney's place. He followed close behind.

Reaching the little campsite, they were greeted with the smell of cooking meat, a scent to make anyone's mouth water.

"What'cha cooking, Syd?" asked Shelby, breaching the small clearing with Herobrine catching up behind her.

"Pork." The brunette replied, smiling giddily, pulling said meat out of the coals and onto some hot rocks next to two other pieces of meat. Gratefully taking the cooked pig from Shelby's closest friend, he watched the slowly rising sun as it slowly reach the top of the trees. He had been unconscious for a while. As if she knew he was thinking about earlier, Sydney looked at the man with a hesitant expression saying;

"Herobrine, how did you do that fire trick earlier? Sorry about that, by the way." Turning his head back to the two, looking across the fire to see them, he collected his thoughts, deciding what and what not to share.

"I don't know. I had this notion in my mind that I could do that when I was dealing with Richa-" The shocked and confused expressions he received made him stop in his explanation.

"You did that?" Sydney said slowly. And the other just watched, trying her hardest to remember what had happened. He nodded.

"Why?"

"Because of me." Shelby said stiffly, causing her friend to turn to her with a start.

"I stepped out from behind that ledge, and he shot me." She continued, staring at the floor as it all hit home.

Still with a shocked and confused look on her face, Sydney continued,

"But why would he-? Oh." Her confused look changed to realization. "Notch never told them."

"Never told them what?" Herobrine asked, interested in his brother's actions since he'd been out of reach.

"That Shelby is innocent, that Jack was killed by Notch because-" and then she stopped.

"Oh, Shelby, you have a lot of catching up to do."

Looking over at the uninformed young woman, he saw burning curiosity in her eyes, but also the work she was putting into stifling a yawn.

"Tired?" he asked simply.

"Exhausted." She replied, resting her head on his arm momentarily before noticing the elated look in Sydney's eyes and sat back up.

"You can crash with me." She said, holding back a grin, "At least until we find something better to do with you. I'll set up a tent for Mr. Silent over here." By the time he'd turned to complain about the nickname, she was already half way done building him a small tent with some sticks and wool blocks.

"Wow, that was fast," Shelby said quietly, stifling another yawn and stealing the thought from her significant other's head before he could even contemplate saying it.

"Alright that's it, you're going now." Sydney said suddenly, pulling her tired friend from the floor and into her own tent before heading out into the woods by herself.

Waiting for a moment, Herobrine stayed for a second just to make sure the brunette wasn't coming back before heading into the hastily-made shelter and falling asleep quickly in the comfort of a once underappreciated bed.


	15. Chapter 15

_"This is where we're going to live."_

_Turning to look at his brother, Herobrine stood from the grass block he was sitting on and shook his head._

_"No. Not here." He said simply._

_"Since when did you become the expert here, Herobrine?" The young woman inquired, "However, I do agree with you."_

_Notch mocked a gasp and slapped his hand to his chest dramatically._

_"Ally! What did I do to get kicked off your favorites list?"_

_She laughed, and even Herobrine teased the shadow of a smirk._

_"Nothing personal, friend, I just don't think this is a safe place."_

_Then stepping forward, she jammed a few fingers roughly into his chest and getting in his face._

_"And nobody calls me Ally!"_

_Bored by the petty conversation, the hazel-eyed Herobrine had wandered to a nearby cave, the noises coming from it drawing him in with curiosity. Treading silently, the man listened and watched, one foot stepping noiselessly over the other, and his hand resting loosely on his sword._

_Stopping dead, he closed his fist on the sword, swinging it along with his gaze inches from the source of the sound that caught his attention._

_"Whoa, hey!"_

_Seeing his blade inches from the young woman's neck, he lowered his sword-carrying arm and straitened into a less combative stance._

_"Hey," he replied simply, face blank of emotion while trying simultaneously to read hers._

_"Did our bickering bore that genius mind of yours? Or are you just anti-social?" Allison said jokingly, smiling all the while._

_"Insulting the other isn't a very reliable coping technique."_

_That smile fell and the two watched each other for a moment. But then Allison spoke._

_"Just because you're afraid of loss doesn't mean you should be afraid of gain. Afraid of friendships, or even… love."_

_"I'm not afraid."_

_"Then why not take a chance?" she argued, voice getting progressively louder._

_"How do you know I'm just not into you?" Herobrine snapped, fighting her in volume._

_Trying to hide her hurt, Allison said quietly,_

_"If that's what you want to believe, Herobrine." She turned away, long brown hair whipping to the side as she started out the cave._

_"Wait."_

_She stopped. Herobrine took a shaky breath._

_"Whenever I get close to someone, especially women, it causes a piercing sensation in my head. Having… feelings for someone puts me in physical pain and I don't know why."_

_"Herobrine…"_

_"Don't. I shouldn't have told you that."_

_"So, do you..?"_

_"No."_

_"That's a lie!" the woman young snapped, tears suddenly leaking from her eyes. The man who caused him watched her sadly for a moment._

_"I know." And then he walked out. Once away from her sight, he sat down on a grass block, and his clueless brother walked over and ogled at the other with his shocking blue eyes._

_"What happened?"_

_"Nothing you'd understand."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"Oh, I don't know, how about your love for an imaginary girlfriend?" Herobrine spat. Notch's face grew cold and his jaw locked and tightened._

_"She's not imaginary."_

_Cutting off his reply, there was a yelp and then a throaty scream. Grabbing his sword, Herobrine tore over to the entrance of the cave and then froze in horror from what he saw._

_"No… no no NO!"_

_What he hadn't seen just around a bend in the cave system was an ancient mass grave and the swirling necromantic spawner in the gloom. What he did see was the mangled body of Allison, now drenched in its own blood and being torn apart by the undead. Desperately looking for an opening to go to what was left of her, his brother stepped up next to him and put a hand on his chest, silently telling him to leave her._

_"It's far too late. Let's go before they detect us." The older murmured._

_"We can't leave her!" the younger pleaded, a slow growing state of hysteria gripping him._

_"We must go now!" Notch hissed, pulling his grief-stricken brother from the scene. Their sudden movements caught the attention of the horde of corpses and quickly the two were stumbling through the forest as fast as they could._

_Tripping as he ran, Herobrine found himself tumbling onto the ground. His elder took a minute to realize he wasn't behind him and turned to find him just as a zombie leapt towards him. Fortunately, Herobrine had good reflexes. Within the half-second the monster was falling over him, the man had pulled the worn iron sword out of his sheath and pointed it towards the things chest. When the fairly large body impaled itself and started to fall over, he manipulated the momentum to pull himself up speedily._

_"Keep running!" he called to his older brother, sheathing the sword and following the other once again._

_Breaching the tree line, Notch slowed from a run to a walk while the smaller slowed even more just behind him. The others, Anne-Sara, Richard, and Tess, looked to them curiously._

_"What happened, where is Allison?" can a strong and elderly voice. It belonged to Anne-Sara._

_"She's gone," Notch said slowly, speaking for his solemn brother. The small group went silent._

_"She's gone."_

* * *

><p>"Brine? Brine?! Herobrine!"<p>

The faint sound of his name being called resonated into the back of the man's head, jerking him awake and causing him to drop to the ground sprawling.

Wait, drop to the ground?

A flicker of a flame went out above him, leaving in its wake the stagnant scent of the Nether.

Two faces hovered hesitantly in the center of his vision, the rest occupied by sky, and it took him a moment for his pale eyes to focus on them.

"Hey..?" the redhead sounded, a touch of fear as well as worry in her voice.

"Oh yeah, 'Hey how's it going, you were just on fire!'" the brunette spat, trying to hide her own mixed emotions.

"What?!" Sitting up abruptly, he looked at himself noting that that he was unscathed, if a little warm.

"You were on fire, Herobrine, floating a couple inches off the ground, and your eyes were wide open and… glowing." Shelby stuttered quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"How did you do that anyways?" asked Sydney casually.

"I'm not sure." was his reply, but a distracted one as he tried to catch Shelby's eye.

"How do you not know?! Does it just happen? What caused it?!" she spewed frantically, her insatiable curiosity getting the best of her.

"I don't know!" the man snapped, "But if I find out, I'll tell you, okay?"

Startled, she stared at him for a second.

"Wow, okay."

He looked back over at Shelby, whose face had a look of deep thought.

"Shelb?" she looked up at him and he reached a hand out to her, bringing it close to her face. She didn't move and he ran a thumb gently across her cheek.

"Hey. You okay?"

"No. No I'm not." She replied quietly. "Honestly, you're terrifying. I wake up to find you hovering in the middle of the clearing, eyes flashing and your entire body ablaze."

The woman looked up at him intensely, eyes boring into him.

"I'm scared for me, I-I'm scared for you. I mean… who knows what's next?"

"Nobody does. He's dangerous." The other female said, watching the situation carefully.

Glancing from her friend to Herobrine, she took his hand off of her face and pulled him closer.

"I don't care."

Momentarily keeping eye contact, he felt the familiar pain in his head, but he ignored it and closed the gap between them. Now Sydney ~really~ knew.

And she had a ~real~ problem with it.


	16. Chapter 16

The pain in his head was getting worse. Almost as if a small, angry man was jamming a red-hot sword repeatedly into the back of his skull. A man who acted as a second conscious that kept him from the lustful thoughts that had started to slip slowly into his mind. Especially now, the angry man wasn't letting up as his fingers ran through Shelby's dark hair and their tongues grappled so flirtatiously. He had handled well in the beginning, when they were new to their –whatever this was- he had fought the urge repeatedly smash his head against a wall whenever it started up. But now, farther down the road the pain pestered like a migraine that never ceded, telling him to think twice before he kissed her, before he gave her that wanting glance that caused her to go red in the face just now.

But as much as it pissed him off, as he wanted it to go away, he wanted even more to know why.

But those were issues to be contemplated later. Now his only focus was on the redhead that had slowly begun to wrap around him. At least she was, until Sydney broke it up.

"Alright, alright guys, break it up. I get it; you're nuts for each other and want to get naked together, blah blah blah." She interjected with a snippy attitude.

Shelby snapped away to give her friend a horrified look.

"Sydney!"

"Please, don't even try to pretend. It's all over your faces, especially his."

He forced it to go blank.

"That's not even any of your business!" she retorted, blushing harder by the second.

"It is when you're out here. Now break it up and help me find food before I kick your combined asses, dammit."

Taking his eyes off the redhead climbing out of his lap, he caught the stony gaze that came from the other female. A gaze that said clearly, 'We need to talk'.

Grabbing his blade from the tent he'd had made for him, Herobrine twisted the hilt into his tearing belt loops. He stopped for a second to take a good look at himself. Damn, he looked terrible. Even after banishing the thick coat of netherrack dust off his body, the extensive time he'd spent in the other dimension had disastrous effects on his clothing. Not to mention the streaks of greenish infection that had once crept through his right arm, the massive gashes on his arm and leg. Fortunately, none of these things were getting worse; they seemed to have been at a standstill since he'd… died. In retrospect, it was shocking Shelby had even given him a second glace based on appearance alone.

"Hey! It's not going to be day forever! You two slept all morning and then you decided to set on fire for an extra hour, so c'mon!'

She never stops talking does she? Herobrine thought and trudged over to the two girls.

"How long was I gone?" Shelby asked just as he got over to them.

"Babe, it was spring when you 'left' and now it's fall. But hey, you got to skip all the sucky hot months, right? The plain biomes get so stuffy, it's one of the reasons I stay in the forest."

"Wow," she muttered, "A whole season just… gone."

"Your mom well she flipped a little." Sydney added quietly.

"OH MY-is Kate okay?! Tell me she's okay!" the redhead spluttered, and her friend placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Your sister is fine. From what I heard, Madi and Ada took her until Marie settled down."

"What do you mean, 'settled down'?" Herobrine asked, his mind whirring with possibilities that just didn't work with such an overprotective other. He didn't really know the woman, but she never seemed like she could possibly harm her daughters.

"What, Shelby never told you about Marie?"

He thought about it for a second, processing through as many of their conversations as he could remember.

"She never mentioned her family."

Shelby sighed and started quietly.

"Well, I know you've at least met Marie and Katelyn, so that's a start. Mom is 38 and Kate is 7, almost 8 now. I practically raised Kate because mom was… she was useless.

"Useless isn't the word I'd use." The brunette growled. He gave her an asking look.

"I think the proper description would be… abusive, insane, or man-hating, I'm torn between those three."

"What did she do?" Herobrine asked stiffly.

Shelby replied by adjusting her clothing to show the long scars crisscrossing over her back and spine.

"Sticks and stones broke my bones and the words never stopped hurting."

"I wish…" he started hesitantly, but had no words to follow. "I'm sorry"

"Most of those were for Kate, but I-I protected her." a tear ran down her face and she quickly wiped it off.

"Enough pitying me, let's just find something to eat." Shelby walked off quickly and Herobrine followed.

"Hey."

"Whaddup?" she replied, attempting to sound casual. Herobrine took her hand.

"I had a dream about an old girl-… a girl really close to me. We had an argument about our -standing- and when I turned my back for just a second, she was killed." He muttered uncomfortably.

She looked up at him sadly, watching him try to hide the sadness on his face and in his voice.

"Why are you telling me this? I mean… I appreciate it, but why?" He shrugged a reply.

"It was only fair. You tell about something personal in your past, I do too." Shelby smiled appreciatively at him, choosing to show in her eyes the affection that went along with it.

"Thank you. I can tell you aren't used to talking to anybody else."

"No." he replied simply. She squeezed his hand and gave that same smile, one he'd never forget.

Sydney caught up with them and started the glare up again, but it was noticeable more sad now.

"Is that an apple tree?" Shelby questioned, and excitedly broke off to confirm her statement. Herobrine slowed to walk next to Sydney. She grabbed his arm and forced them both to a stop out of Shelby's hearing range.

"You need to stop this," the sturdy young woman muttered, failing to sound as stern as she wanted.

"Stop what?" he asked, knowing full well what she was going to say.

"You and her, it has got to stop. "

Herobrine stood straighter and crossed his arms defensively.

"Should it now?"

"Yes." She retorted firmly. "You are bad for her, terrible, honestly. I know this for sure now. I always thought you were a little off, and that's probably why she was initially attracted to you. But all this crazy shit with the fire? I won't tolerate it."

He didn't like it, but her point was well taken. This new thing he could do? It was the worst among the other strange things, and piling them all up together… even Shelby had admitted that it bothered her. The main problem was that he didn't know everything that he could do and may end up hurting her down the road.

And it showed on his face.

"Good," Sydney sighed, a tired edge to her voice. "You understand."

Herobrine forced his face blank again, something he'd mastered over the years and watched as she spoke.

"I don't know if you really care for her or are just trying to bed her, but either way you'd be better off taking her back home."

Herobrine glared at the woman in front of him, almost embarrassed at how insulted he was that she could think so horribly if him.

"H-How could I just… leave her?" he muttered, startled by his own dedication as well as the pain that was raging throughout his head, yelling at him for the possessive emotions that were now spewing from his mouth.

Sydney gave him a depressed look.

"Just do what you know is best for her.

"Hey guys! Look at all these apples! I- … guys?" her face fell at their expressions and the way that Sydney so quickly left as she came up to them.

He forced a lighter tone, saying, "That's awesome. I swear I'll never eat another mushroom again."

She tried to brighten up but was still thrown completely off guard by them.

"Y-Yeah! I can't wait to taste these!"


	17. Chapter 17

Walking silently back to Sydney's 'camp', the two occasionally stole small glances at each other, trying to read the other's emotions and get their own thoughts straight.

"Herobrine?" Shelby started, looking over to him. He caught her glance and quickly dropped it; unable to look her in the eyes.

"What exactly were you two talking about?" she finished, voice cautious but dripping with anxious curiosity.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you later." He replied, trying to avoid the subject as long as possible.

The redhead glared at him for a moment, but quickly gave up and matched his downward gaze.

"Great, so you were talking about me." Her voice softened and faltered, betraying the hurt she felt.

Torn between telling Shelby about Sydney's statement thus setting the deal or giving her nothing to go on, he just watched her for a moment. Unfortunately, he waited too long and the young woman stormed off, leaving him alone in the woods.

"Shelby!" He called after her guiltily. She didn't turn back.

"FUCK!" he yelled, aiming to kick a tree before remembering he still didn't have any shoes. Instead he set his arms on fire and repeatedly punched the tree, setting it ablaze. Swearing again, Herobrine extinguished the oak and then slid down in, resting his head on his knees. He let out a rattled sigh, trying to calm himself down.

_This _was why he had to let her go. He wished he could go home with her even, but there were so many reasons against that decision. First of all Notch, there were so many complications that would arise around him. Although rationally he could just ignore him and try to be less contentious, there was too much burning anger seated in his mind. There was also the matter of his newfound powers. Control over fire, immunity to lava, some form of levitation. Not to mention the voices he heard once and the strange mental aversion to relationships. They were too dangerous and uncontrollable; it would be foolish to put other people at risk.

_Think of them as gifts_

Snapping his head up, the man frantically looked around.

"Hello..?"

_What did I tell you about-! Oh shit!_ This voice was different, more feminine.

"Who's there?" Confused, Herobrine stood up carefully and surveyed his surroundings.

_"Are you reading my thoughts?"_

There was no reply.

'Think of them as gifts' the male voice had said. He'd never thought that these unnatural abilities could be seen in a positive light, and he did considerate it. Although taking the advice of a disembodied voice that then got yelled at by another disembodied voice wasn't high on his priority list.

How about he mess around with these 'gifts'?

Untwisting his sword from his belt loop and leaning it against the tree, he prepared himself mentally for what he was planning. Holding out one arm, he set it on fire. After taking a breath, he held out the other and set it similarly.

But he could do so much more. Closing his eyes, he centered his focus on the energy in his body, willing it to flow to his legs and feet. He wanted to fly.

Inch after inch after inch, his toes slowly lifted off of the ground and a mind-numbing adrenaline rush raced through his body. With them still hidden, Herobrine felt the burn of his own eyes beneath his lids and let go of all his thoughts.

Up, up, he went, feeling the sun hit his skin and the swirl of autumn wind stray his hair. Curiosity drove him to look out and see the sights. And an amazing view there was to see. Breaching over the tops of the trees he could see the edge of the forest he'd just rose out of. The sun lit up the edges of the leaves while the dark shadows they casted lay in contrast. The slowly-thinning tree line blended into bright grassy plains that appeared to stretch to the horizon, the only landmark in sight being a small village… right where he left it.


	18. Chapter 18

Feeling his energy waning, Herobrine allowed himself to slowly drift back down to the forest floor. As he did, his mind began to drift as well. Thoughts reeled within his head, bouncing possibilities and ideas back and forth.

The small village he had left so long ago had grown in size during his absence, the small wooden building transformed into three interconnected. A tall tower was constructed on top of a smaller brick building, and a large double-stacked fence surrounded the whole could tell it was built by Notch.

When his feet touched the ground, a vague new issue was brought forth.

Now what?

His immediate reaction was to go to Shelby, talk things out, as it would be a constructive action to take. His other option wasn't as simple, and it had come to mind as he observed the complex. He could arrange Shelby's welcome back, arrange it in a way that wouldn't get her shot on sight. Based on Richard's reaction, and the little information they'd received from Sydney, the people who lived there still believed Shelby to be responsible for the death of Jack. Even if their feelings were half as spiteful she would not be readily welcome.

Sitting down on a nearby ledge, he continued on his thoughts.

If he could manage to get somebody with high standing or even in a leadership position to vouch for her innocence, he may be able to find some peace of mind in leaving her alone.

Herobrine sighed quietly, slouching into the action wearily.

It's not as if he wanted to separate from her, he… he was just so used to having her around and honestly cared for her well-being. Rationally it was better for Shelby in the long run. Rationally he had to let her go. Straying from the path of self-pity, he brought his thoughts back to the new top on his priority list. Somebody with enough respect, yes? Somebody in a leadership position, a person that is looked up to-

Like Notch.

Just the thought of his name sent untethered fury through his core, bringing along with it a twinge of pain in the back of his head.

_FOCUS_

'Shut up!' Herobrine growled back at the female voice, not really caring if the voices he heard were hallucinations or not.

Standing and stuffing his hands angrily in his pockets, he began walking. Following the forest's edge, the man hoped that no one would notice his tattered form and shoot at him. Although he had the bizarre idea the arrows would do him no harm, , the people he was to force his company onto may not allow entry to a man supposed to be long dead who easily brushed off a few arrows to the chest.

"Humans are so complicated" Herobrine grumbled to himself, missing the implications that came with it. Eyes flickering restlessly across his surroundings, he stormed off towards the village.


	19. Chapter 19

After treading around the right side of the complex, he found the entrance faced opposite of his origin. He hadn't looked back when he was running through the place a day or so ago before, and the size was underestimated from the notable distance away he'd been.

Taking a breath, Herobrine stepped into the midday sun. The warm sunlight warmed his back and head, bestowing a warm confidence in him. Straightening his back and lifting his head, he strode towards the gate and lifted his hand to open it.

Just as his hand had positioned itself on the gate, a slight movement caught his eye.

With a loud CL-CLACK the door to the building a few steps inside the gate flung open to reveal the one person he was looking for. Notch.

"What are you doing here?" Notch said quietly, his form loose and his features close in concentration.

"Strictly business, you could say," the other said, just barely louder. "It's about Shelby."

"Yes, sure." The eldest muttered, suddenly distracted, and opened the door further for his brother. "Come in."

Surprised by the invitation, Herobrine carefully started in toward the building, body tensed from nerves. He didn't feel as if this situation was right. Sitting in a chair across from his brother, the two watched each other carefully. And a stiff silence fell between them.

"I see you have rejoined the Overworld."

"Yes."

"You look terrible." The silence fell again for a short few seconds.

"I want to let Shelby come back here, however, according to recent events it's obvious that would be difficult."

"Why do you hate me?" the larger of the two asked casually, leaning back in his chair as if suddenly relaxed.

"Don't change the subject."

"She did kill Jack." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Bullshit."

And again they watched each other without a sound.

"She didn't kill Jack," Notch revised, and when the other said nothing, he continued. "And there is a perfectly good reason as to wh-"

"There better be a really fucking good reason!" growled Herobrine, starting out of his chair angrily.

"Sit down and listen. I will tell you." He stated calmly, but a hint of exhaustion crept through. Herobrine scowled, irritated by the hint of weakness in his brother's voice, and reseated himself.

"Jack was not the innocent kid he appeared to be. He was a necromancer. I don't know what he was planning, or why he'd set up here, but the guy was into some dark shit. As you probably know, due to your acquaintance with Shelby, the two worked crafting together. What you don't know is what he did alone, when nobody was watching, or so he thought. I caught him muttering to himself, he must have underestimated how much a stone wall echoes. He wasn't saying anything I'd ever heard, but it sounded pretty eerie. When I got closer, I could tell he was twisting some messed up enchantments. So I checked his place. His roommate Gordon wasn't there so I was free to search his stuff. I found some creepy monster bits hidden in a dark corner, freaky stuff no one would keep around under normal circumstances. When I found him and Shelby chewing each other, I figured he'd somehow corrupted her and I didn't want to risk it. I tried to blow them both up, but she made it just out of the blast range. Most heard the explosion and came running, so when Shelby passed out, I stepped in and told them I'd heard them fighting, and the rest was obvious. She woke up seconds before I threw her in."

Finished with his tale, Notch ran a hand through his hair and looked at his bewildered brother. The sound if a book dropping caused both men to jump and whip their heads over to the source of the sound. As assumed, it was a book that produced the sound, but the young woman standing above it was more of an interesting detail to notice. She had medium-length dark brown hair, and a pair of wide cinnamon eyes.

"H-How could you..?" She said quietly, her voice dripping with hurt.

"Caryn, please..!" Notch started, stepping out of his chair, only to watch her run up the nearest flight of stairs.

"I don't think acceptance is going to be a problem for her anymore."

Pleased, Herobrine stood to leave, turning from his brother before a large hand took hold of his arm.

"Come back home, brother, we can work things out. "

Without even giving a backwards glance, Herobrine head for the door.

"It'll only be Shelby coming."


	20. Chapter 20

Standing just out if reach, Herobrine watched the two girls in their camp. Shelby was talking fast and gesturing heavily in her excitement. Sydney laughed at something she said, causing the other to blush, and he wondered what she had said. For a moment, his crushing anxiety lessened. Just for a moment.

Walking out towards the girls caught their attention. Shelby's unfinished sentence drifted away and Sydney's laughter subsided.

"Hey." He said quietly, stopping in front of them. He held out a hand to help the redhead up, watching her expression in the fleeting moment of hesitation. She accepted it and followed as he began walking silently into the forest.

"Where are we going?" Shelby asked, trying to hide her bitterness beneath soft-spoken words. She stepped in synch with him, pacing equal, and looked to Herobrine.

"I have explaining to do and the setting must be right." He murmured, guilt washing over him at the frown on the woman's face. Her eyes shone with hurt; it had not been long since those same eyes had been full of the deep affection she'd felt towards him.

After a few minutes of silence, the pair breached the tree line, and were left with the sight of the complex. Shelby stopped short of it.

"You're sending me home, aren't you?"

Herobrine turned to look at her pained face, his own twitching in it's repressed state.

"That's what you and Sydney were arguing about."

"Yes." He watched her face evenly, studying the expressions on her face to detach himself from the guilt and sadness he felt.

"And you're not coming?"

"No."

"I-I... No! I won't be welcome there!" She cried, looking to him in an attempt to sway him.

"They think I killed Jack, y'know? And... And they probably think I'm a ghost or something too-"

"I talked to Notch," he interrupted, "You're plenty welcome."

Shelby looked to him in shock, tears beginning to leak from her eyes.

"He talked to everyone... Sorta, and made sure they knew you were innocent. He explained everything to me, about Jack and his reasons for banishing you."

"So this is it? You're not going to ask you me what I think? Just... Just send me away, because now that we're back here I'm obviously not wanted anymore?" Her voice had risen and her eyes were streaming steadily.

Watching her break down was horrible. Herobrine sighed decidedly and pulled her close despite her halfhearted attempt to push him away.

"I just want to protect you. To say you are not 'wanted' would be a lie."

She cried into his shoulder for a moment and then looked back up at him.

"So I can still see you?"

"Maybe." He replied softly. "I don't want to put you in danger, and I can't promise your safety."

Shelby began a reply, but Sydney stopped her with a solemn look. They broke apart at her gaze, and he allowed Shelby to go to her friend. Sydney murmured softly to her, and looked at the man expectantly.

"Ready?" he asked. Sydney nodded and they started off along the edge of the forest.

* * *

><p>Standing just within the shadows, Herobrine's redheaded companion passed him, venturing into the waning sunlight. Before she stepped out of reach, the man took Shelby's hand and pulled her back to himself. Without breaking the motion, he brought his lips to hers.<p>

"You're terrible at good-byes" she murmured, her forehead still rested on his. He sighed and let his hands slide from hers. She gave him a look of longing and turned from him, venturing into the sunlight and then into the door of the building.

Without him.

(( Guys, TSoH is not over. I've still got a lot of plot and story to tell. Thank you for being patient with me, I won't leave you off with such a unfinished story, I promise~ ))


	21. Chapter 21

Herobrine watched the door close. He watched the shadows move as their owners ran about excitedly. He listened to the gleeful voices calling her name.

There was a shrill cry of joy, one that belonged to a small child, and he assumed it was Katelyn, Shelby's younger sister. He vaguely remembered her, she was quite small at the time he last saw her. The young woman's laughter rang out in reply, sweet and innocent, as if the troubles of her past had evaporated once she'd stepped back into that building. Bygones were bygones, and she was back with her friends, safe in the warmth and familiarity. She was home.

A soft rustle of grass caught his attention, and he turned to look at the girl behind him. She'd been all but forgotten in his contemplations. She looked to him with a humbled expression, one unfitting on her normally outgoing hold of herself. He returned the look with one of questioning. She took a breath and held out a hand and started talking rapidly.

"My name is Sydney, sometimes referred to as Sydney Ender-Bane. I know we didn't get off to the best start and I apologize for that. My worry for Shelby clouded my judgment and I treated you awfully. I hope that we can make amends and at least be on good terms."

Still holding out her hand, she flinched back a little, as if expecting aggressive retaliation. He took her hand and shook it.

"As a friend of Shelby, I agree that we should try to get along. At least for her."

Sydney opened her eyes and instantly brightened up.

"Good! That makes my next question a lot easier to say!" She bubbled, "Where are you planning on living?"

He looked at her evenly, and considered the question, one he hadn't even thought about until now.

"I'm not sure."

"You could always build a house or something out here in the forest. Shelby tells me you're not too fond if your brother right now."

"Maybe I should." He said quietly, ideas for buildings of various size and design flooding through his head.

"I can start you off with some basics if you'd like." Sydney offered, smiling happily. Her pose was one of comfort, and he could tell that she was similar to Shelby in her extroverted nature. It was charming in its own way, however frustrating.

"Alright." He agreed, following her as she bounded into the woods. Her mood certainly did change fast.

"Before, when you and Shelby were talking, what was the conversation about?"

Sydney turned to him, still walking towards her camp, and flashed a knowing smile at him.

"You of course."

He raised a curious eyebrow and she laughed.

"I hear you've been good to her, and maybe she's been good for you. She says you'd open up occasionally. Your abnormalities were also mentioned."

Herobrine listened to the brunette talk at him. She traded her weight from one foot to another and looked him straight in the face as she talked.

"Apparently your heart doesn't work anymore." he nodded and she continued. "Would you like it to start again? Chugging a few healing potions should help."

Herobrine cocked his head to one side somewhat. He hadn't really considered the possibility of his body being 'repaired' so easily.

"Would that work?" he asked, his mind wandering to the various functions his heart and blood maintained. She shrugged.

"It might. If so, it's worth a try. The fact that you aren't dead yet is miraculous, but I doubt it's good for you." Sydney stopped her reply to glaze her eyes over him.

"Scratch that. I _know_ it's not good for you."

He crossed his arms in a small bout of self-consciousness and let out a sigh.

"Do you have these healing potions?"

"Nope! But I have the stuff for them; I can have it ready pretty soon. You want to look good for your little girlfriend, righ-?"

"Don't." Sydney raised an eyebrow at him, mouth still open with the last of her words. She put a hand on her hip and formed her lips to make new ones.

"Don't what? Talk about Shelby? She's my friend too. Whether or not you like it, we can agree that was the best thing for her. You can be upset, sure, but it was only a matter of time before she left. You know that you couldn't be with her forever, Herobrine."

With a shake of his head, he dropped the glare he'd been holding on the woman.

"You offered tools. If the offer is still open…" his voice drifted away as his eyes did the same. They stopped on a shadowed figure in the distance, in a single motion he side-stepped the brunette and pulled loose his sword. With a second motion he strode forward silently, breaking his 'dance' only to silence Sydney, and raised the sword from his hip. With the third motion, he threw.

Startled by the sound of the obsidian blade hurtle away from them, Sydney spun around. He ignored her and walked towards the recipient of the sword he'd thrown. It was a spider that had wandered from the forest and to the edge of the small clearing. He retrieved the blade swiftly from the head of the creature and watched it disintegrate. A finger tapped him on the shoulder.

"The potions will be done by nightfall and I've got a few spare tools you can have."


	22. Chapter 22

Herobrine curled his calloused toes in the thick grass of the forest floor. The leather bag Sydney had given him weighed against his back. She'd filled it with a multitude of items, primarily wood planks, all for him to use at leisure. In front of the man was a large overhang, it appeared as if the side of a mountain had been gouged out. The light filtered into the gap, discouraging the clusters of mobs that normally formed under such features. As he flicked his eyes over the formation, identifying blocks and analyzing the terrain, he felt the familiarity he'd noticed while exploring earlier.

"I don't remember this place," Herobrine said to himself.

"But I swear it is new to me..."

Adjusting the single strap across his shoulder, Herobrine stepped onto a lone dirt block. He reached into his bag and pulled out a heavy cube the size of his palm. Running a thumb over the cube, the hard wood scratched his skin. With a flick of his wrist, the small block of wood left his fingers and rapidly expanded, hitting the ground below as a full-sized block. With a small sense of excitement, he reached into the bag once again.

* * *

><p>Shelby let go of the friend she'd been hugging. He'd refused to let her go for a solid minute, relishing in her presence as long as he could.<p>

"Gordon, I really _will_ be dead if you don't let me breathe," she said laughing.

"Sorry," he replied, a grin plastering his face. It strained the scar stretching across his stubbled chin. Saving the question for later, she walked to the window to see a blood coated figure struggle through the lone gate.

Shelby pushed past her awaiting sister and ran down the stairs leading to the main entrance. She made it through the door just as a man she recognized stumbled into the building. Catching his arm as he fell, the young woman helped him walk into the laboratory.

"Thank you," he huffed, not a hint of worry in his voice, despite the blood dripping from his back "You're Shelby, right?" She looked to him and saw only irritation on his deceivingly young face.

"Steve..?" she said and he flashed her a pained smile.

"You heard Notch say it?"

Shelby nodded and pushed open the heavy metal door. Sitting the man down on the large iron table in the center of the room she instinctively opened the chest to the right. She stared at its contents for a moment before swearing softly and running to the next chest.

"Of course they rearranged everything..." Pulling out a roll of bandages and a small knife, the woman started their conversation again.

"How did this happen?" She asked, turning to face him. Instead of hearing his reply, however, her mind snapped to focus on one thing.

"Y-You look exactly like him."

Steve swung his feet childishly off the end of the table.

"Like Herobrine?"

She nodded, curious of the sudden change in his mood.

"I-I..." He started hesitantly, but was interrupted by what appeared to be a change in thought. He sat up straight, eyes wide and unfocused for a brief moment before slumping back down with a small groan of pain.

Shelby but her lip, deciding not to bring the subject back up and stepped forward to help him. The blood that had been running off his body had pooled around him on the slick surface. His face was unhealthily pale, but he remained perfectly calm.

"I missed your reply the first time," she said, "What happened to you?"

"Oh! There was a zombie too close to the fence, so I went out to take care of it!"

"You're not supposed to go outside alone." The young woman scolded, wincing at the wound on his back as she carefully cut away his shirt. This wasn't something that could be simply bandaged.

"I know, but I wouldn't have needed anybody as long as the second zombie hadn't shown up!" He sounded far too cheerful for someone with a gash across his spine. Shelby dipped a cloth in water and began to wipe away the blood coating his back, cleaning the wound and looking for any other cuts that needed mending.

About to reply, she stopped herself, taking the blood-coated cloth from his back. Shelby rinsed it quickly and wiped away at a small area across the man's spine and shoulder blade.

"What is this..?"

Steve turned his head in curiosity, but was unable to properly see.

"I don't know... Is there a weird mole or something?" Shelby touched it gently.

"I want to say it's a birthmark, but there's no way it's natural. Here, I'll draw it out for you."

Taking an empty notebook and pen from one of the numerous bookshelves, she sketched out the mark.

"It's perfectly symmetrical. It almost looks like a shield with wings." She handed him the book and continued to clean up his back as he looked over it.

"With blood dripping off of it..."

Shelby stopped.

"Blood? What? Is that what's at the bottom?" He nodded, not taking his eyes off of the sketch.

"I'm going to need to get someone to sew this up." She said, referring to his back and looked out one of the small openings in the door.

A tall girl with a toss of jaw-length brown hair pushed the door open.

"There we go." She said to herself, dark eyes following the trail of blood to the pool Steve was sitting in.

"Hi Emma!"

"Hello Steve," she replied, her tone not dissimilar from that of a mother talking to her child.

"You look like you need your back patched up." Emma's voice dropped back to the firm tone she'd strode into the room with.

"Thanks for taking care of him... Shelby?" The redhead nodded.

"Doesn't seem like I'm needed anymore. Nice talking with you Steve!"

As Shelby started to leave his side, he took her wrist in his surprisingly strong hand. She met his purple eyes in question and he slid a paper into her hand.

"You're the lover of Herobrine, right?" He whispered.

"I uh..."

"Read it. You have to know. You have to do what I can't."

Nodding silently, although very confused, she left the blood-scented room and uncrumpled the torn page in her hand.

_-Myths of Trellion and Poems of Times Unknown (page 17)-_

Scoffing at the name and the childlike handwriting, Shelby made her way to the library off the main main entrance. Tracing her eyes over the battered books that lines the shelves, she almost missed the faded text of the burnt book, tucked between a few large leather journals. Shelby flipped through the brittle pages. References to cities that didn't exist and 'ancient' inventions that were far ahead of what they had cluttered the pages she only skimmed over. As she continued, it began to dawn on her how old the book really was.

"Steve," she said to herself, "How could this relate to Herobrine? Or even his older brother?" Shelby reached the recommended page.

Chocolate eyes slid across the page, in it a short poem. As the words sunk in, the frown on her face grew.

"God... you can't really be telling me..?"


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I hadn't uploaded this here! I'm sorry to be keeping you all waiting, I'll try to start on the next chapter ASAP!I've been addicted pretty hardcore to Fairy Tail and it's fanfiction and more or less forgot about TSoH entirely until I saw a picture of Herobrine I drew on a worksheet and I will do my best to make it up to you, I promise!

* * *

><p>Herobrine glided to the ground, his feet gently setting on to the ground. Behind him stood a small, half built house of wood.<p>

"Nice place!" Came a voice from the forest. Sydney dropped out of a nearby tree with a pair of apples.

"Here!" She tossed him one and bit into the other.

"I figured you would want some lunch about now, I know I did!"

Herobrine nodded gratefully and took a bite into the sweet fruit. He recoiled at the taste, unused to how it hit his tongue, but it only took a few bites for him to adjust. The two ate their apples in silence.

Sydney finished hers first, and launched it across the clearing. The man sneered at her and threw his apple the same direction. It surpassed hers by about a block. She gave him a challenging glare.

"So that's how it is?" she said in an attempt to sound menacing.

"Do you intend on challenging me in competition?" Herobrine replied cooly, watching the brunette shift into a combative stance. He too balanced himself for a fight and glared at Sydney.

"I wouldn't recommend fighting me, I am..."

"HAHA FOOLED YOU!"

Sydney shot off into the woods, and after a half-second of shock, he chased after her.

"Race ya to the firepit!" She shouted over her shoulder, a sly grin plastered over her face. The man's breathing labored as he fought inch by inch to catch up to her, bare feet racing against the forest floor, and he could only just reach out to stop her when the trees around them quickly thinned. As they flew across the final stretch, Sydney began to slow. He could see her movements lag and he threw in one last burst of energy, lifting a foot to race ahead. He felt his ankle catch something midair.

His progression halted in an instant, and and his momentum changed direction. Straight down.

Sydney let out a hoot of celebration, and turned to gloat at the losing party. Instead of jeers and snide comments coming from her mouth, laughter did. Herobrine shamefully wiped dirt from his mouth and looked up at Sydney.

"I'm sorry... but you... look so... PATHETIC!" laughter cut apart her words, and she gripped her stomach in pain. She calmed her laughter and sat on the ground next to the man and flashed him a smile of restrained enjoyment. After a moment of drinking in his expecting glare, Sydney started talking

"Oh yeah. I won, ahahaha! Anyways, I have a bunch of stuff for you. I left it in your tent. It'll be getting dark pretty soon and I figured the place you were building wouldn't be finished yet." He nodded and stood up, brushing dirt off of his worn pants.

"I got you those healing potions done, too. Ya may only need one but I have an extra just in case."

"How? Where..?"

"Did I get all these ingredients? Where did I get this knowledge?" He nodded and she shot him a wicked grin.

"I stole it."

"Who has that knowledge?"  
>The girl shrugged.<p>

"Some wrinkly old dude cooped up in an empty village. He had extras, so I took one of his recipe books, a brewing station, and then took off."

There was a moment of silence before Herobrine broke it.

"Will it work..?"

Sydney's expression softened at his words. She could almost hear his hope growing in his scratchy voice.

"I think so. Honestly, nobody else can survive injuries like yours, so I  
>can't promise anything."<p>

Herobrine nodded in understanding, looking out into the trees as the sun cast shadows on the ground where they stood.

As their conversation died and the sun dipped further behind the trees, a small excitement began to climb up Herobrine's throat.

"Can I... Have that healing potion now..?"

Sydney nodded and turned, happy to not have to stand still in the silence any longer, and walked to the mans designated tent. He waited for her anxiously to return, the short minute stretching into an hour from his perspective. She returned with two small glass bottles, each filled with a thick pink liquid.

"Here you go. Take it in one swing, it'll taste weird, but it's best drank all at once." She handed him one of the potions and watched with an unabashed curiosity.

Herobrine pulled out the small cork and took a shaky breath. Counting down in his head, he raised it to his lips.

...3  
>... 2<br>... 1  
>... drink!<p>

With a small gesture, tipped the contents of the potion into his mouth. He stood for an agonizing second, wondering when it would take hold.  
>Then everything went black.<p>

* * *

><p>Shelby's bare feet padded up the stairs. She stopped to look at a sign on the wall and frowned. "Steve and Trent" it read. It felt wrong to read those names instead of the "Jack and Gordon" it once displayed. She added "where he lived" to the list of questions she had for her friend. Stepping up to the door, Shelby gave it a few soft knocks. With a short hesitation, it slowly opened.<p>

A mass of brown hair followed by the widened purple eyes of Steve's.

"Y-Yes Shelby?" he asked, his voice tight and his eyes darting nervously about. Ignoring his suspicious behavior, Shelby held out a copy of the page he'd led her to.

"Steve, what does this have to do-..."

He slammed the door closed and yelled  
>"I don't know what you're talking about!"<p>

Taken aback, Shelby pounded in his door again.

"Steve! C'mon!" The door stayed shut and she could hear him yell  
>'No!' from the back if the room.<p>

Groaning in frustration, she started back down the stairs to the Commons. Stepping onto the thin carpet, she bumped into Emma.

"Oh hey... Emma!" The taller woman glazed her eyes over Shelby thoughtfully and gave her a small smile.

"Hello, Shelby. You're awfully active despite the perpetually setting sun."

"I must not be used to the overworld's schedule yet." She replied lightly.  
>"Do you know where I can find Gordon? I see his room has been changed."<p>

The lanky brunette studied her unscrupulously.

"He shares with my sister and I." She answered carefully. Shelby's face changed to one of confusion.

"I'm assuming you don't know what that scar on his face is from?" when Shelby shook her head, Emma continued.

"Potion of Harming. It had hardly hit his throat before my Caryn and I got there. After that, we decided he shouldn't be left alone in the room shared with his dead best friend."  
>Shelby frowned, eyes downcast in guilt.<p>

"I didn't kill him..." she said softly.

"We know." Emma replied curtly, and started up the steps behind Shelby.

Biting her bottom lip in thought, she decided to save all mystery and inquiries for the morning. With yet another pang of guilt, she wondered about the state of her mother. She'd checked in on her sister, assuring no harm had come to her, but not once did her mother show her stinking face at the news of her daughter's return.

"Stubborn hag is probably avoiding me."


	24. Chapter 24

[A/N: I found this in my notebook earlier and had the sudden motivation to type it up and do some basic revision. Again, I apologize for the hiatus and overall infrequent updates. As soon as I get the inspiration to work out the details of how I'm going to end the series (which is rapidly coming up) I'll do my utmost to release chapters more frequently! Love you all and hope you enjoy!]

THUD. THUD. THUD.

A stabbing pain hammered steadily beneath his forehead. With difficulty, Herobrine opened his heavy eyes. His vision spun sickeningly and he shut them again, with only a vague image of what he'd seen. Amidst he mind-numbing pounding of his head, he felt a cold finger on his lip carefully open his mouth and pour in a warm, thick liquid.

Too confused to protest the mysterious substance, the man could only focus on his breathing. As the liquid slid down his throat, he could feel the haze over his thoughts begin to lift and his headache fade.

_It looks like he's regaining consciousness, is there any way to ease his pain?_

_It'll fade, stop being such a softie._

_Just because he's..._

"-Herobrine?"

He once again opened his eyes, Sydney's voice breaking past the soft whispers in the back of his mind. He let out a groan of discomfort and focused his sight on her hovering face. He lay on his back, sprawled over the small bed in what he assumed was his tent. Sydney stood next to him, half-empty potion in one hand and wide eyes full of shameless curiosity.

"Oh good, you're awake." She sighed, "It took a bit for your heart to start up and I couldn't tell if you were dead or what. How do ya feel?"

Sliding a shaky arm over his chest, Herobrine rested his hand over his ribcage. He could feel the steady pulse of his heart beneath his skin.

"Better," he said. "Significantly better."

"It was really cool," Sydney started, voice dripping in awe, "the way your heart suddenly started beating and the color of your skin came back." She continued to watch him in awe as he sat up. The second potion Sydney had dribbled down his throat finished repairing him to peak condition and given him a short energy boost.

"Sydney, did you say anything while I was unconscious?" She gave him a strange look.

"I said your name once or twice and asked you if you were dead. Why?"  
>He made a small frown and sighed.<p>

Standing from the small bed, he ducked out of the tent and into the cool outside air. Not bothering to mask the purpose of his steps, he started a slow pace to the outside of the campsite. Standing in the darkening shadow of a tree, he took a breath and tried to clear his thoughts.

A minute or so passed and he heard nothing. He let out a sigh.

"I'm going insane, aren't I?" Herobrine grumbled to himself.

_No you're not, sir_

His eyes widened at the meek sound of the male voice.

"Sir?" he asked in confusion.  
>Unsurprisingly, he didn't receive a reply. Did that voice call him 'sir'?<p>

A low groan emanated from the shadows behind him, and his thoughts were instantly scattered.

Zombie. Fuck.

Herobrine reached instinctively for his sword, but found himself empty-handed. A panic set in at the sudden realization that he was unarmed.

_Call for Sydney!_ the female voice cried, with just as much fear in her voice as he imagined his would have had. Turning to face the monster, he saw it limping and snarling a throwing distance away.

"Shit... Where is my sword?" he hissed to himself.

Glancing over his shoulder to look for Sydney, he saw no sign of the girl, nor his weapon. He had no place to go and no intention of leaving the monster for the brunette to deal with, but he found no other options.

_Your sword is at your house!_

Just as the male voice rang out in his head, a set of rotting fingers wrapped around his wrist.

A flash of revulsion brought along his desire to be in front of the unfinished building. With a clap of sound and the faint scent of the Nether, the ground jerked out from beneath him and the bony grip of the zombie was torn away. The ground settled once again and in a moment of disorientation he walked into something irritatingly solid.

Shaking the the confusion from his head, his eyes focused on a plank wall. To Herobrine's shock, he recognized it as the front wall of his unfinished house.

"How..?"

As he stepped back to confirm his suspicions, he felt something smooth and cold under his foot. Looking down, he saw his diamond/obsidian sword laying on the ground. Picking it up, he turned to look the direction he'd presumably came from. If he focused on the right spot, he could faintly see the the fire Sydney had built in the clearing between the trees. A familiar low growl sounded and he turned quickly to the left.

"Herrr..." the zombie moaned, making a considerable pace towards him despite it's rotting limbs. Herobrine watched it limp towards him.  
>It was uncommon practice to look too long at a monster, there was a fear that seeing it's human features would inspire pity and one might forget they were a viscous predator. He watched anyways, as it soon became apparent that this one was different.<p>

"Herrr... oohh..."

It stalked closer and closer, it's milky eyes not once leaving his. The man felt an uneasiness crawl up his spine and fought to find the reason behind it.

It was a male, or it had been, and it's hair had fallen out in clumps. It's skin clung to it's face loosely and was far into the stage of rotting.

Another sound came from the creature, and his observations came to a crashing halt.

"Her.. oh... breeeh..."

_RUN! Get away from there, sir!_

Despite the frantic warning, Herobrine's feet stayed still and stared at the monster vacuously.

"whhy..?" it moaned, grasping out at his old blue shirt, "whhy did-"

Before it could finish it's questioning, the zombie fell slack and slid to the ground. Far behind it was Sydney, her visage uncharacteristically serious, walking towards him.  
>It was only when he looked down at the spear-impaled corpse below him that he realized he was trembling.<p>

"Are you okay?" Sydney asked, removing the weapon from the monster's back and shooting him a worried look. He nodded and stepped back on weak legs.

"I saw you with this thing thing and then... you were gone! It looked like you teleported, can humans even do that? I-..! Are you sure you're okay..?"

He nodded again, but this time less confidently, and leaned hard against the wall.

"Did it get you?" Sydney asked, walking a step or two around him, her expression growing even more worried.

"It said my name..."

"Say that again?"

"Herobrine, Herobrine, why?" he stuttered.

Sydney stared at him in shock, both at the concept of a zombie speaking as well as his reaction to it.

"The zombie talked to you?" she said slowly, an undertone of shock in her voice.

Controlling his emotions he stood straight, took a breath, and looked back at Sydney with his usual blank expression. A muscle twitched faintly in his neck. She stared at him for a moment before nodding to him in understanding.

"I have some more stuff I'd like to give you. It's all in your tent, ok? I think we should probably get to sleep now. "

Sydney gripped her spear and walked off in the direction of her camp, checking that Herobrine was following behind her.

"Yours seemed to be in bad shape, so I got you a replacement outfit. I stopped by an old storage stash I'd made a while back and grabbed a few things I thought might fit you. I couldn't find any more of those weird shoes you'd worn before so I had to get you some regular leather ones like the rest of us." She chuckled to herself and led him to the small clearing. With a cheery smile she led him into his tent.

Herobrine sat down in a sudden wave of exhaustion and let out a heavy breath.

'Teleportation, huh?' he thought, 'How exhausting.'

He looked over to Sydney, who had her arms full of items from a chest tucked in the corner. Doing her best not to drop them all, she handed him a dark green sleeveless shirt, gray slacks, and a pair of leather shoes.

He nodded to her in thanks, taking the items and looking them over.

"Goodnight, Herobrine." She said with a wave, and left the tent.

The flickering light from the fire outside brightened rapidly as the brunette added sticks to the pile. He looked down at the dark clothes in his arms and sighed, wondering absently what Shelby would think of them.

He was already missing her badly.


	25. Chapter 25

[**A/N:** Most of this was written before I put the story on hiatus, but in case you don't follow my deviantART, I am working on the story. I promise to finish it some day. Until then, enjoy this and know that _I love you all]_

Shelby blinked her eyes open slowly. A moment of confusion greeted her as the feeling of soft blankets and crisp air filled her senses.

Her eyes focused on a small freckled face and she smiled.

Oh, right. She was home.

Shelby lay in a double bed with her sister, whose eyes were closed in what she assumed was a light sleep. Across the small room was a smaller bed, in which lay their mother.

She let out a small sigh, and still smiling at the sight of her younger sister, Kate's green eyes opened.

"Are you awake now, Shelby?" Kate whispered.

"Yeah," she murmured back, grinning just a few inches away.

"I'm hungry."

The older girl sat up and stretched lazily, the aches from her previous sleeping places having faded drastically.

"Let's get some food then!" She threw the soft blankets out of her way and crawled out of the double bed she shared with her sister. She readjusted the pale blue shirt she'd put on the night before and watched Kate scramble to her feet. She took the girl's hand and led her down the first set of stairs.

Her bare feet hit the ground and ached. If she hadn't have stolen those damn heels from her mother, she wouldn't have had to walk around in them for however long she'd been in the Nether.

Granted, she could have taken them off, but she found it much too hot. She had _no_idea how Herobrine went around barefooted.

A pang of hurt shot through her for a second. She wondered if they would see each other again. She wondered if he wanted to.

* * *

><p>Herobrine slid the green sleeveless shirt over his head, and looked down at himself. The feel of the fabric was foreign to him, the soft wool of the shirt and sweatpants differing from the aged t-shirt and jeans. That being said, he didn't actually know what they had been made of.<p>

He leaned over and wrapped the cord of his shoe, feeling the inside with his toes, and saw a shadow pass over the ground.

"Oh, cool, you're awake!" Sydney's voice was filled with boundless energy like usual. He wrapped his other shoe and heard a crunch from the brunette's direction. He glanced up. She looked back at him curiously, chewing a rather large cookie.

"How..?" he began, referring to her breakfast of choice, and drew his eyebrows together.

"I stole it." she replied innocently from behind a mouthful of cookie. He shot her an amused glance and stood up, stretching one of his arms. Sydney watched him stand, popping the rest of her snack into her mouth.

"Ya look good." She swallowed. "It's a little big, but it's not bad. Like, the shirt, I mean."

Herobrine rolled his shoulders and watched Sydney. She stared at him blankly for a second.

"Oh! Sorry, I came here to make sure your clothes fit and to ask if you were going back to your project thing." She waited a moment.

"So are you?"

He nodded. She smiled.

"Cool! I'm going to go hunting and stuff, so don't die while I'm gone!" She didn't wait for a reply before bounding out into the woods, spear in hand. He watched her go, and then turned to grab his lent supply bag and sword. He brought the weapon to his hip and realized with an embarrassed start that he no longer had belt loops to hold it. Herobrine adjusted the bag on his shoulder and stepped out of his tent. The fire in the center of the clearing was coughing up it's last puffs of smoke and left only dying embers in the small pit. He turned to the direction of his half-built house and lifted a foot to walk. An idea struck him.

Gripping tight his bag and sword, he imagined the unfinished building and the overhang above it. He felt his energy center in his core, a build-up he hadn't recognized before. With a push of will, he once again found himself in the shade of the hollowed mountain. The faint smell and sound associated with his... teleportation... faded as quick as it had come, leaving the man standing in the near silent biome edge by himself.

With a small sigh of content, Herobrine stepped toward his project and opened his bag. As much as he liked the company of Shelby, and admittedly Sydney as well, nothing could replace the peace he felt out in the woods alone. He pulled a handful of planks from the bag and floated up to the unfinished wall he'd left off at. The silence gave him room to think.

He placed a block.

The first thing that came to mind was Shelby. Of course, Shelby. He had to admit he agreed with Sydney's reasoning to take her back. When awake he seemed in control, but he'd proven while asleep he could accidentally activate his abilities. That and his most recent discovery, that he could do so as a reaction to fear. He didn't even want to _think_ about how he could go wrong with that.

He placed a block.

On that note, he didn't know where these abilities, or 'gifts' as the male voice had called them, came from. His initial thought had been that everything -his physical state, powers, everything- was a result of the ghast's tears. She hadn't known, as she isn't the most knowledgeable of creatures, so it was his only explanation. He figured she must've been different somehow anyways, because he'd never heard of intelligence in mobs.

He placed a block.

It frustrated him to no end that he didn't have all the answers. He considered asking the voices in his head, but that thought caused even more frustration. Those damned voices. One male, one female. The male seemed genuinely helpful, once even calling him 'sir'. The female on the other hand rarely spoke, many times only just to scold the male. She seemed insistent on keeping up the act that they did not exist.

He placed a few blocks, a small frown on his face. How long had they been there? Was it a sign of him going crazy? It was pitiful to consider, but the possibility was there. In the case that they _are _real people, how did they talk to him like that? Are there others with powers like his?

He placed a block.

His frown deepened. He _hated _not having all the answers.

A few loud crunches interrupted Herobrine's thoughts, and he stopped his arm's movements mid-air, turning to where he assumed Sydney was. Instead of Sydney, he saw a cloaked young man racing off towards the village mumbling to himself. The mysterious man pulled his hood tighter around his blonde head.

Herobrine watched him in silence, a sense of uneasiness crawling up his spine the longer he stared. The boy faltered in his steps and then stopped in his tracks. He turned cautiously, and Herobrine got a glimpse of the other's face.

Hungry blue eyes darted around, his short blonde hair tucked into the sheepskin hood he wore. As the man continues to study his features, the extensive scarring on the left side of his face was revealed by the shifting of the cloak. He had the air of something unnatural around him, and the way the scars sat on his face reminded Herobrine of his own. There was something very wrong with that one.

* * *

><p>Shelby ran a hand along the wood surface of a chest, walking back out the door of the storage room. Kate chewed complacently on a small loaf of bread and followed her out, oblivious to the growing noise just down the hall.<p>

"Oh, hey, are you okay?"

A worried voice carried down the hall, drawing Shelby's attention from her sister.

"Ha ha. Yes, I'm fine." a familiar voice lilted, his voice pulling suddenly at the woman's heartstrings.

"It's not a particularly old wound, but it isn't anything to worry about."

With faltering steps, Shelby made her way to the end of the hallway. Chocolate eyes settled on the person gracing the doorway, and she felt a sudden lightness in her chest. Relief spread through her body until she was near giddy with joy and her hand found it's way to her mouth. With a breathy gasp, a name slipped through her fingers.

"Jack..!"


	26. Chapter 26

[A/N: For the millionth time I apologize for taking so freaking long to update each new chapter. This story means a lot to me but also drives me insane with how terrible and messy it was at the beginning so I have to get myself into the right mood to write for it. I promise I'll finish it, everyone. And look forward to it's three year birthday late November. The day that gives me the greatest shame. Thanks for all of your support in the meantime! And especially everyone who reviews, they are literally what pushed me to get moving on this chapter and many previous. Sorry for the long intro! On with the story! ]

"Jack..!"

Shelby's surprised cry gained the attention of those in the room, and his icy blue eyes met hers. They instantly widened and a grin broke over his boyish face. Without hesitation, he broke the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her, and she followed suit moments after.

It wasn't until they began to separate that they noticed the growing crowd. Missing the paling face of Notch, Shelby's eyes focused on that of her friend, Gordon, who stood a few inches above everyone else. She reached a hand out to him, the emotions rising in her chest rendering her unable to speak for fear of crying, and pulled him into their arms. It was only when she felt Gordon's quaking that her tears began to fall. Finally, they were together again.

A suddenly uncomfortable silence met them and one by one they turned their gaze to the people standing a distance away. Although the size of the crowd itself was not, the air of unease was intimidating. Rumors surrounding Jack and his two closest friends had spread quickly amidst such a small group, resulting in a general distrust for the three. Notch took the opportunity to step forward, his intentions targeted towards Jack.

"It's about time I start explaining, I think. You too, Jack."

Little was said as the group convened in the common room above the library. Most members sat stiffly in chairs or on the floor, unwilling to be the first to speak or make eye contact with any involved with the mess they found themselves in. Notch stood in front of everybody and had Jack and Shelby sat on either side of him. The blonde sat in his chair, his expression and posture oddly at ease. Shelby on the other hand stared hard at the floor, embarrassed by the sudden attention to herself and the brief relationship she'd had with Jack being spotlighted as such.

"For the few of you who weren't around for it," Notch started, nodding chastely at Trent, Caryn, and her sister Emma, "There was a bit of a situation a while back that revolved almost entirely on these two."

Shelby shifted in her seat, waiting tensely for a sign she was allowed to speak up.

"Before the explosion, I had collected much evidence that implied that Jack was... is a necromancer. After consulting with sources that will remain unnamed, I decided to find the swiftest and most inconspicuous way to get rid of him. Shortly after, I found he and Shelby kissing in the crafting room. My initial assumption was that somehow he'd roped her into whatever it was that he was doing."

"In a moment of panic, I admit the decision was rash, I decided to create a supposed accident to get rid of the problem. Blaming Shelby, I created an explosion intended to incapacitate both of them. I apologize immensely for this, as that decision goes against what I strive for as a leader and a human. "

Notch paused his monologue and looked to the people around him. Individual expressions varied, but few looked pleased. Jack had begun to appear uncomfortable, and the unsure glances he got from those once considered his friends only added to this insecurity.

"For the time being, I would like to postpone the conversation surrounding my own offences and instead turn it to Jack's. I would like to start with the question of how you are here, considering your previous status as 'dead'."

Suddenly, despite their previous hesitance, everybody's eyes were on Jack. His countenance quickly changed from one of discomfort to one of fear and distress.

"They made me do it!"

"I-I don't know who they are, or what they want, you see. But they have my dad! I was told that if I do things for them and scope out information on some of the people then they'll give him back! I'm sorry!"

He looked to his two closest friends and then back to everyone else, his eyes pleading.

"I'm so sorry."

"What did they want?" asked the girl next to Gordon, named Jennifer.

"U-Uhm. They wanted me to search for someone. The things Notch found hidden were an enchantment specialized to track them down. A-After I found out who they were, I was to get information on who they spent time around. Fortunately, I guess, he didn't talk much to others "

"Who was it then?"

Jack looked up at Notch then, eyes unwavering when they met the taller man's.

"Your brother. They were looking for your brother. But now he's dead and the only reason I'm not is because they want his body."

A tense silence filled the room and glances were thrown from one to another in a silent question.

Should they tell him?

Someone must have had some trust in the man, as Madison's voice rose from the silence.

"About that..."


	27. Chapter 27

Jack paced the room animatedly, muttering beneath his breath and hands shaking as they gestured wildly. His two friends watched him, still in awe of his presence before them and unwilling to break his concentration. Shelby was brimming with curiosity, but somewhat reluctant to speak. She didn't know what Jack, or these people he was associated with, wanted with Herobrine. The whole reveal of Jack's intentions, happy as she was that he is still alive, she didn't trust the blond.

Gordon's thoughts were somehwhere else entirely, his elation at the return of both his friends drowning them in memories and memories-to-be. He curled his toes into the thin carpet at one particular daydream, mouth falling ajar, and forgetting momentarily the presence of his two friends.

"Do either if you two know his current location?!"

Jack's outburst tire them both from their thoughts, and for a short second they stared at him as they collected their thoughts.

"I think he was here yesterday." Gordon spluttered, looking a little taken off guard. Jack rounded on him, his expression wild.

"This is great! Tell me, friend, do you know where he went? Did anyone see him leave?"

His growing excitement caused the other two to shrink back in their seats, his presence overwhelming. But the demand for information still hung and Gordon, thinking of only the best for Jack, gave him a stuttered reply.

"I-I... Shelby! Herobrine was talking about Shelby!"

Gordon then turned to her in an effort to ease Jack's sudden attention off himself.

"Do you know where he might be?"

As Jack turned his prying gaze to her, she licked her lips nervously. The look in his eyes was intense, and Shelby couldn't help but wonder why he looked so conniving.

"Why do you need him anyways..?"

The question registered and Jack's face immediately dropped into one of sorrow.

"You know why, Shelby," he said softly, sitting down slowly next to the now very uncomfortable girl.

He looked her straight I the eyes, his own wet with earnest tears. Afraid to look away, she held his gaze for a few silent seconds.

The moment passed and Jack looked away. He sighed.

"I know you don't trust me, Shelby. I don't blame you. But... I've been looking for the right one for a long time now. I just... I have to save him."

"Of course, Jack, I get it." she replied softly, "I would do anything for my sister."

Jack's eyes lit up, no sign of the sorrow they contained just a moment before, and bore straight into her heart. She'd never been able to say no to those icy blues in the past.

"Okay look... I knew him, but I..." she hesitated for just a moment under Jack's intense gaze, "I don't know where he is is. We were only friends in passing. Last I heard he was heading south to the desert."

The blond stared stared hard at her with an unreadable expression.

"Thank you," he said breathily, taking her hand and capturing her attention. He smiled wistfully for a moment before taking Gordon's hand as well.

"Both of you!"

A young woman named named Jennifer appeared from a nearby stairway, her tired eyes glazing over the three blankly. She had been Richard's lover before he... died.

"Sorry to interrupt," she murmured,

"But once you three are free, there's work to be done."

Shelby stood in the crafting room, flipping through a tattered old journal. It had instructions for simple first aid and protective measures against monsters. She'd been through it a million times before, but the feel of the familiar paper beneath her fingertips was relaxing. Enough so to make her forget that she should have been working.

"You interested in that kind of thing?"

Shelby humor and turned around. She was met with Steve's smiling face. He looked so similar to Herobrine it took her a second to recollect her thoughts. Once she did, she realized he had asked her a question and was waiting patiently for an answer.

"Only a little," she replied, "I've read it before just for the basics." She turned back to the list she was given and skimmed it over before handing it over to Steve.

"Notch left us a list of things to do. Mostly organizing and checking supplies. I'll... what's wrong?"

Steve looked up from the sheet, looking uncomfortable, and then handed the paper back.

"I'm not so good at reading..."

Shelby blurted out the first thing that came to her head:

"Didn't your parents teach you?"

... and then immediately regretted it. Steve's face fell.

"I don't have a mom and the closest thing I have to a dad doesn't know me." he said sullenly, scuffing the floor with his leather shoe.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"It's okay. Emma's trying to teach me! She's like a big sister!"

Shelby smiled along with him, his pleasantly childish attitude lifting the awkward tension.

"Hey Shelby?" Steve asked quietly, "What is Herobrine like?"

Not looking up from her work, she sighed.

"Quiet," is how she started, "and he doesn't show when he's happy or angry very well. He is kind to those he cares for, but has a lot of anger he can't control for the people he doesn't like or cause problems."

She finished rolling the bandage and placed it back into the chest. She met Steve's look of fascination.

"I want to meet him some day. Can you help me?"

Shelby gave him a wry smile.

"I don't know, Steve. I don't know when I'll see him next. Why do you want to anyways? It is about that boo-" Steve clamped a hand over her mouth and seemed to stare off into space for a moment.

"Sorry," he said suddenly, "somebody was outside the door."

"How did you-" Shelby started, but was cut off quickly with:

"I hear really good."

"Anyways, about the book. Are you trying to say that he is somehow related to that person? That he is..?"

"No. He isn't like that person. He is that person. But if he doesn't know, you can't tell him."

Shelby shook her head, eyebrows drawn together.

"But he can't be! Sure, his story is weird but his power is similar to certain enchantments, right?"

"You can't enchant a person, Shelby, only things." he said dismissively, "I'm telling you this because you need to know what you're in love with. So you can help him! He's going to need it soon!"

A door closed in the distance and they snapped their heads towards it.

"He's in danger," Steve whispered, "And I'm not supposed to tell anyone anything, but he trusts you. And Herobrine does too."

The door to the crafting room opened, revealing a flushed and sweaty young man. His shoulder-length, curly amber hair stuck to his slim face and was a pleasing lighter contrast to his darker skin. But it was his height, rather than his enticingly feminine build, that really caught Shelby's attention. He was easily 6inches taller than her and shyly refused to meet her eyes.

"My hoe broke."


End file.
